Erosive balanitis caused by Staphylococcus haemolyticus in a healthy, circumcised adult male.

Introduction: Balanitis is an inflammation of the glans penis and balanoposthitis involves both the glans penis and prepuce. After candida infections, aerobic bacteria are the second etiological cause of infectious balanoposthitis, mainly streptococci, groups B and D, and staphylococci, usually S. aureus. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are commensal skin bacteria, but are also recognized pathogens of the genitourinary system, mainly related to urinary tract infections. Staphylococcus haemolyticus is one of the main species of CoNS that also causes other infections of the male urogenital tract, such as chronic prostatitis and epididymo-orchitis, but it has not been associated with balanitis. Case presentation. A 45-year-old man reports having suffered several episodes of balanoposthitis in the last 3 years, which were treated with topical antifungal treatments alone or associated with corticosteroids. For this reason, he underwent a postectomy by his urologist 8 months ago to avoid further recurrences. The patient consulted for an episode of painful, erosive, and exudative lesions on the glans penis lasting 5 days. He had no urinary discomfort or inguinal lymphadenopathy. A complete blood count, biochemical analysis, and urinalysis were normal. Abundant growth of Staphylococcus haemolyticus was obtained in the culture in standard bacterial media of the sample taken from the genital lesion. The fungal culture was negative. Based on the antimicrobial susceptibility study, treatment with oral ciprofloxacin and topical mupirocin was started, and the genital infection was completely cured. Conclusion. We present a healthy, non-diabetic, circumcised male patient with severe, erosive, and painful balanitis probably due to S. haemolyticus.