Clinical and laboratory data on newly described staphylococcal species is rare, which hampers decision-making when such pathogens are detected in clinical specimens. Here, we describe Staphylococcus massiliensis detected in three patients at a university hospital in southwest Germany. We report the discrepancy of microbiological findings between matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, 16S-rRNA polymerase chain reaction, and whole-genome sequencing for all three isolates. Our findings highlight the diagnostic pitfalls pertinent to novel and non-model organisms in daily microbiological practice, in whom the correct identification is dependent on database accuracy.
Keywords: 16S rRNA; Coagulase-negative staphylococci; MALDI-TOF MS; Non-model organisms; Novel species; Staphylococcus massiliensis; Whole-genome sequencing.
© 2022. The Author(s).