How to Diagnose Staphylococcal Infections

Staphylococcal infections are caused by a bacterium from the Staphylococcus genus, although Staphyloccocus aureus is responsible for most cases. It is carried on the skin or in the nose of 25 to 30 percent of the population. The most common "staph" infections include blood poisoning, food poisoning, pneumonia, skin infections and toxic shock syndrome. The following steps will show how to diagnose the more common staphylococcal infections.

Instructions

• 1

  Expect boils to be a common staph infection of the skin. Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome is a severe skin infection in infants that causes clinical depression, constant andsevere pain, insomnia and loss of motor functions.

• 2

  Look for severe staph infections when Staphylococcus aureus becomes deeply situated. These include septic arthritis, staphylococcal endocarditis and pneumonia.

• 3

  Identify cases of toxic shock syndrome. This infection by Staphylococcus aureus is rare and potentially lethal. The infection route can be through the skin, throat or vagina. It was closely associated with certain types of high-absorbency tampons in the 1980s.

• 4

  Grow Staphylococcus aureus from a culture of infected tissue grown on sheep's blood agar. It is a gram-positive coccus which looks like clusters of grapes and the colonies are golden-yellow.

• 5

  Distinguish Staphylococcus aureus from other bacteria. It usually shows beta-hemolysis and tests positive for catalase production, unlike enterococci and streptococci. Staphylococcus aureus is usually positive for coagulase production, unlike most other members of Staphylococcus, but coagulase-negative Staphylococcus aureus is becoming more common.