Staphylococcus argenteus as an etiological agent of prosthetic hip joint infection: a case presentation

Staphylococcus aureus is, together with Staphylococcus epidermidis, the most common cause of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs). Staphylococcus argenteus is a novel staphylococcal species closely related to S. aureus and considered a part of the S. aureus complex, which also includes Staphylococcus schweitzeri. The geographical distribution of this species is unknown although many of the early reports are from Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. From Europe the reports are sparse; 25 S. argenteus genomes from Denmark, low prevalence (0.16%) in a nationwide Belgian study, a case report from France and one strain from UK. However, among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates in Sweden normally considered a low prevalence county regarding MRSA, S. argenteus has also been identified. The clinical features of S. argenteus infections are similarly incompletely described but includes bacteremia, skin and soft tissue infections and a bone and joint infection. Hitherto, only one case of a prosthetic hip infection, from China, has been described previously. In a retrospective study of PJIs caused by S. aureus we found one out of 101 cases to be caused by S. argenteus following whole-genome sequencing. The aim of this report was to describe this case of PJI caused by S. argenteus, a potential overlooked etiology of PJIs.