Staphylococcus epidermidis strains causing catheter-associated infections display a high prevalence of the icaADBC gene cluster required for PIA-dependent biofilm formation as well as of the mecA gene mediating methicillin resistance. In contrast, commensal isolates from healthy individuals display low prevalences for icaADBC and mecA suggesting a possible transmission of icaADBC and mecA-positive strains in hospitals. We investigated the prevalence of icaADBC and mecA in S. epidermidis strains from hospital environments (H-SE, n=164) and non-hospital public environments (P-SE, n=125). Similar prevalence of icaADBC was observed in H-SE (21.3 %) and P-SE (24.8 %). In H-SE a significant higher prevalence of mecA (19.8 %) was observed compared to P-SE (6.4 %). Thereby, 14 of 35 icaADBC-positive H-SE were also positive for mecA (40.0 %), whereas only 4 of 31 icaADBC-positive P-SE were mecA-positive (9.7 %), indicating that the observed linkage of icaADBC and mecA in infection associated S. epidermidis is characteristic for hospital associated strains. Analysis of the clonal relation of representative icaADBC- and / or mecA-positive H-SE (n=24) and P-SE (n=18) using multi locus sequence typing revealed also significant differences. 17 of 24 H-SE clustered in two clonal complexes with MLST ST2 and ST5 as primary founders corresponding to the epidemiology evaluated in different studies for S. epidermidis isolates causing foreign body-associated infections. In contrast, only 5 of 18 P-SE were associated with the two clusters and 13 isolates displayed MLST STs characterized as singletons. Interestingly, all 3 H-SE with ST2 were icaADBC- and mecA-positive, whereas the only P-SE strain with ST2 was mecA-negative. Summarizing the epidemiological data as well as the clonal relation of the investigated isolates it could be suggested that hospital specific environmental S. epidermidis clones exist which might be a source for transmission to patients with subsequent infection. Thereby, the linkage of icaADBC and mecA could result in the selection of biofilm-positive strains by antibiotic treatment.