A case of vascular graft infection caused by Staphylococcus lugdunensis after femoropopliteal bypass operation

A 79-year-old man who had undergone a right femoropopliteal (FP) bypass operation 6 weeks previously was diagnosed with vascular graft infection caused by Staphylococcus lugdunensis. Another FP bypass operation was performed, with long-term administration of antibiotics, and the patient eventually recovered well without any recurrences for over 2 years. Although S. lugdunens is classified as coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, its pathogenicity has been reported to be equal to that of S. aureus. Based on the literature review, the organism characteristically colonizes the inguinal area of human skin; thus, operations such as FP bypass grafting may place patients at a relatively high risk for infection by S. lugdunensis, a potentially high-pathogenicity organism.