The patient was a 44-year-old male with a past medical history significant for hypertension, non-insulin-dependent-diabetes, hypercholesterolemia,

The patient was a 44-year-old male with a past medical history significant for hypertension, non-insulin-dependent-diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and a history of heavy smoking (two packs per day for 15 years). He presented to the ER with chest pain and was found to have suffered a myocardial infarction. A cardiac catheterization showed three-vessel coronary artery disease, and he underwent triple coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Two days later he develops septic shock with acute renal and respiratory failure. Two blood cultures were obtained. Chest radiography showed a left lower lobe infiltrate with pleural effusion. A chest tube was placed to drain the effusion. On hospital day 11, pus was noted to be seeping from his sternal wound. A gram stain of the culture and a blood agar culture is shown below.1.