Explore the recorded discovery and history of Staphylococcus epidermidis, with source links and stated limits.
S. epidermidis is, in Otto’s review, the species most frequently isolated from human epithelia: a routine colonizer of skin and mucous membranes that has apparently not evolved to cause disease but to maintain a generally benign relationship with its host. The same organism is the most common source of infections on indwelling medical devices, where its biofilms make treatment difficult, and it accounts for at least 22% of bloodstream infections in US intensive care unit patients. Its clinical importance comes from modern medicine and vulnerable hosts rather than from aggressive virulence.
LPSN records Albococcus epidermidis Winslow and Winslow 1908 as the basonym for this species.
LPSN records the current name as Evans 1916, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in a study of bacteria in freshly drawn milk, on the Approved Lists of 1980, with type strain ATCC 14990 / DSM 20044 / NCTC 11047.
This profile describes a normal colonizer of human skin and mucous membranes. It does not identify a first human case, and a first-carriage event is not a meaningful milestone for a near-universal resident.
Source check: 2026-09-21. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.