''Staphylococcus intermedius'' is a

Gram-positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. The Gram stain is ...

catalase Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is a very important enzyme in protecting ...

positive member of the

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

l genus ''

Staphylococcus ''Staphylococcus'', from Ancient Greek σταφυλή (''staphulḗ''), meaning "bunch of grapes", and (''kókkos''), meaning "kernel" or " Kermes", is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillale ...

'' consisting of clustered

cocci Bacterial cellular morphologies are the shapes that are characteristic of various types of bacteria and often key to their identification. Their direct examination under a light microscope enables the classification of these bacteria (and archaea ...

. Strains of this species were originally isolated from the anterior nares of pigeons, dogs,

cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

, mink, and horses. Many of the isolated strains show

coagulase Coagulase is a protein enzyme produced by several microorganisms that enables the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. In the laboratory, it is used to distinguish between different types of ''Staphylococcus'' isolates. Importantly, '' S. aureus' ...

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 In mass spectrometry, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is an ionization technique that uses a laser energy-absorbing matrix to create ions from large molecules with minimal fragmentation. It has been applied to the analysis of ...

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 ''Staphylococcus pseudintermedius'' is a gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium of the genus ''Staphylococcus'' found worldwide. It is primarily a pathogen for domestic animals, but has been known to affect humans as well. ''S. pseudint ...

'' and ''

Staphylococcus delphini ''Staphylococcus delphini'' is a Gram-positive, coagulase-positive member of the bacterial genus ''Staphylococcus'' consisting of single, paired, and clustered cocci (round bacteria). Strains of this species were originally isolated from aquar ...

'', and therefore the three organisms are considered to be included in the more general 'Staphylococcus intermedius group'.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Staphylococcus intermedius'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

intermedius The vastus intermedius () (Cruraeus) arises from the front and lateral surfaces of the body of the femur in its upper two-thirds, sitting under the rectus femoris muscle and from the lower part of the lateral intermuscular septum. Its fibers end ...

Bacteria described in 1976 Cat diseases {{Staphylococcaceae-stub