The purpose of our study was to check the possibilities of differentiating coagulase-negative staphylococci with the help of biochemical and morphological characteristics. Altogether 59 reactions were examined on a material of 147 strains, which were isolated from human pathogenic processes in USA, Canada, Denmark, CSSR and Germany.
In accordance with previous observations of Mortensen and Kocur [16,18], the anaerobic glucose-fermentation test [28] proved not to be always a reliable criterion for separating the two generaStaphylococcus andMicrococcus. Therefore anIntermediate group between these two genera was proposed and described. 95 of our 147 pathogenic coccal strains were established asStaphylococcus albus, 48 strains belonged to theIntermediate group, and four strains were classified asMicrococcus.
A modified Baird-Parker system was elaborated for classification of coagulase-negative staphylococci. This system was based on the following tests: phosphatase- and acetoin-reactions, aerobic fermentation of mannitol and lactose. With the help of this modified system all pathogenicStaphylococcus albus-strains examined could be grouped. All the other tested characteristics showed no strict taxonomic correlations.
Investigations were supported by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.