Staphylococcus epidermidis has long been overlooked as a pathogen. Modern medicine gives this bacterium ample opportunities to display its pathogenic properties, notably as a colonizer of medical devices (catheters, implants), on which it grows, protected by an exopolysaccharide ('slime') layer. In addition, more and more methicillin-resistant strains are isolated. In Dutch intensive care units S. epidermidis is responsible for 20% of all infections, approximately one third of these isolates are methicillin resistant. As most people have S. epidermidis on their skin, spread and cross infection are unavoidable; still a judicious antibiotic use help to keep the frequency of resistance as low as possible.