Kalyani Raju, Seema Verappa, Srinivas Murthy Venkataramappa
Department of Pathology, ESIC Medical College and PGIMSR, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
DOI: 10.4103/0976-9668.160047
ABSTRACT
Small colony variants (SCV) are persistent, intracellular morphotypes of Staphylococcus aureus causing indolent, subclinical infections. They are usually auxotrophic for Thymidine, menadione or carbon dioxide. Diagnosis is often misleading due to small colony type, delayed coagulase activity and lack of hemolysis. We hereby describe a case of CO 2 -auxotrophic SCV of S. aureus causing left breast abscess in a young female with duct atresia of breast, detected by increased colony size in CO 2 rich environment. SCVs can often be missed and have to be identified and treated properly.
Keywords: Auxotrophism, small colony variants, Staphylococcus aureus.
