Commentary: What's in a Name? The Impact of Accurate Staphylococcuspseudintermedius Identification on Appropriate Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing

Bacteria in the Staphylococcus intermedius group, including Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, often encode mecA-mediated methicillin resistance. Reliable detection of this phenotype for proper treatment and infection control decisions requires that these coagulase-positive staphylococci are accurately identified and specifically that they are not misidentified as S. aureus. As correct species level bacterial identification becomes more commonplace in clinical laboratories, one can expect to see changes in guidance for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and interpretation. The study by Wu et al. in this issue (M. T. Wu, C.-A. D. Burnham, L. F. Westblade, J. Dien Bard, S. D. Lawhon, M. A. Wallace, T. Stanley, E. Burd, J. Hindler, R. M. Humphries, J Clin Microbiol 54:535-542, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.02864-15) highlights the impact of robust identification of S. intermedius group organisms on the selection of appropriate antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods and interpretation.