CONS are predominant members of the normal skin flora and are generally considered non-virulent.
In the last decade, however, it has become clear that CONS are important nosocomial pathogens with a propensity to colonize foreign material, such as indwelling catheters, graft material and orthopaedic prostheses. Although mortality from CONS infection is low, the morbidity is often high, resulting in prolonged hospitalization and the need to replace central lines, artificial prostheses or graft material. Morbidity may also occur when a potentially toxic antibiotic, such as vancomycin, is used to treat false positive bacteremia secondary to skin contamination. The Infectious Diseases and Immunization Committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society has reviewed the data and suggests that the following questions and actions be considered to facilitate the correct interpretation of culture results. Neonatal CONS sepsis has been associated with focal suppurative infections, endocarditis, and necrotizing enterocolitis even in the absence of indwelling central lines.