Short for staphylococcus.Staphylococcus aureus or staph is a bacteria that occasionally causes deadly infections....
Other normal inhabitants of the birth canal - staph, strep, diphtheroids, anaerobes, E. coli and Listeria - are other pathogens that may cause neonatal pneumonia.
The illness usually starts with a localized staph skin infection, but the staph bacteria manufacture a toxin that affects skin all over the body.