A Case of Vaselinoma-Associated Wound Infection Caused by a Catalase-Negative Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Staphylococci are known to produce catalase, but there have been a few case reports of catalase-negative Staphylococcus aureus. The present report describes the first case of catalase-negative S. aureus associated with vaselinoma to our knowledge. We isolated a catalase-negative strain of S. aureus from a penile wound of a 35-year-old man who injected with vaseline into his penis 9 months ago. Colony morphology and biochemical reactions of the strain were typical of S. aureus except for catalase. The patient was diagnosed as having vaselinoma with wound infection and was successfully treated by the surgical removal of the vaseline granuloma and the administration of appropriate antibiotics. Catalase-negative S. aureus is considered to be a very rare variant of S. aureus. To date the number of reported cases of catalase-negative S. aureus is very few, so further studies need to be conducted to evaluate its clinical relation.