Staphylococcus intermedius

Staphylococcus intermedius is a Gram-positive, catalase positive member of the bacterial genus "Staphylococcus" consisting of clustered cocci. Strains of this species were originally isolated from the anterior nares of pigeons, dogs, cats, mink, and horses. Many of the isolated strains show coagulase activity. Clinical tests for detection of methicillin-resistant "S. aureus" may produce false positives by detecting "S. intermedius", as this species shares some phenotypic traits with methicillin-resistant "S. aureus" strains. It has been theorized that "S. intermedius" has previously been misidentified as "S. aureus" in human dog bite wound infections, which is why molecular technologies such as MALDI-TOF and PCR are preferred in modern veterinary clinical microbiology laboratories for their more accurate identifications over biochemical tests. "S. intermedius" is largely phenotypically indiscriminate from Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Staphylococcus delphini, and therefore the three organisms are considered to be included in the more general 'Staphylococcus intermedius group'.