For some time, a soccer team has been dealing with an epidemic of unsightly, painful boils and skin infections. Around 20 athletes have been too sore to play, and 5 have been hospitalized. Clinical samples has been sent to a medical laboratory for culturing the bacteria. Once isolated, the bacterial colonies are circular, convex, and golden. The bacterium is shown to be Gram-positive, mesophilic, and facultatively halophilic and can grow in the presence of oxygen or without it. Under a microscope, the cells are spherical and are attached to one another in clusters
