10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 3 Issue 3 2012 (July - September) lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan is commonly associated with catheter related sepsis with a unique property of biofilm formation. This genetically determined property aids its survival by the phenomenon of immune evasion. In all, IV catheter tips and two synchronous blood samples from 297 patients with intravenous catheters and ≥ 48 hours stay in KIMS were subjected to culture and biofilm formation by lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan strains thus isolated. Biofilm formation was correlated with the clinical presentation of the cases grouped as "septicemia" or "asymptomatic" - with or without thrombophlebitis. The results were compared using the χ lessThan sup greaterThan 2 lessThan /sup greaterThan test. Out of these 297 samples, lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan was isolated from 62 catheter tips (20.9%) and simultaneously from blood cultures (septicemia) and I.V. catheter tips from same patients in 38 cases (12.8%) all of which were associated with septicemia. Biofilm was demonstrated in 63.2% of 38 cases of culture proven septicemia as well as I.V. catheter tip positivity, significantly higher, compared to 25% of 24 isolates from catheter tip only. (p value lessThan 0.005). The incidence of biofilm forming lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan in cases with thrombophlebitis was 17.1% not significantly different than in the cases without thrombophlebitis was 18.5%. (p value greaterThan 0.05). Thirty out of the 62 isolates (48.4%) from I.V. catheter tips from cases in the "septicemia group" were biofilm formers while 20.8% of the isolates from "asymptomatic group" were biofilm formers (p value lessThan 0.05) whereas 25.0% were positive for biofilm formation exclusive I.V. Catheter tip positivity.(p value greaterThan 0.05). Biofilm formation by isolates of lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan was found to be significantly more common in cases with culture proven sepsis than with those with only I.V. catheter tip positivity. Biofilm formation by lessThan i greaterThan S. epidermidis lessThan /i greaterThan isolates does correlate significantly with cases with clinical signs and symptoms of sepsis but not so with local signs like thrombophlebitis. Prachi Shaw, Chandan Kumar Shaw And K. Saileela Staphylococcus epidermidis, Biofilms, Antimicrobial Resistance 638-646