Your patient was admitted for a gunshot wound about a week ago. As a precautionary activity, the doctor placed her on antibiotics for a few days while recuperating. Blood specimens are drawn on the patient a several times daily and sent to the microbiology lab for analysis of bacteria. Nothing has grown in culture. On her 4th day in the hospital, she has had no fever and no other signs of infection, but one set of blood specimens has been reported positive for a bacterium. The culture was identified by the lab as Staphylococcus epidermidis, a common organism on the skin. Predict the likely situation leading to this.
A. The patient is immunodepressed and very susceptible to bacterial infection.
B. Staphylococcus epidermidis is a skin contaminant that ended up in the blood specimen as a consequence of poor aseptic technique during the venipuncture.
C. Staphylococcus epidermidis has converted to a pathogen because of the antibiotics prescribed for the patient.
D. Staphylococcus epidermidis is a very slow growing bacterium and was probably in the blood right after the gunshot wound, but failed to grow until now.
Answer: B
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