Journal List > Ann Clin Microbiol > v.20(3) > 1078578

Lim, Lee, Yeom, Park, and Kwon: First Case of Psychrobacter sanguinis Bacteremia in a Korean Patient

Abstract

Psychrobacter sanguinis

has been described as a Gram-negative, aerobic coccobacilli originally isolated from environments and seaweed samples. To date, 6 cases of P. sanguinis infection have been reported. A 53-year-old male was admitted with a generalized tonic seizure lasting for 1 minute with loss of consciousness and a mild fever of 37.8 o C. A Gram stain revealed Gram-negative, small, and coccobacilli-shaped bacteria on blood culture. Automated microbiology analyzer identification using the BD BACTEC FX (BD Diagnostics, Germany) and VITEK2 (bioMérieux, France) systems indicated the presence of Methylobacterium spp., Aeromonas salmonicida, and the Moraxella group with low discrimination. The GenBank Basic Local Alignment Search Tool and an Ez-Taxon database search revealed that the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the isolate showed 99.30% and 99.88% homology to 859 base-pairs of the corresponding sequences of P. sanguinis, respectively (GenBank accession numbers JX501674.1 and HM212667.1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first human case of P. sanguinis bacteremia in Korea. It is notable that we identified a case based on blood specimens that previously had been misidentified by a commercially automated identification analyzer. We utilized 16S rRNA gene sequencing as a secondary method for correctly identifying this microorganism.

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Fig. 1.
Graph showing change in body temperature, white blood cell count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels during admission days.
acm-20-74f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Colonial and microscopic morphology of Psychrobacter sanguinis. (A) Non-pigmented and non-hemolytic colonies with circular and smooth edges on a blood agar plate. (B) Gram-negative coccobacilli (Gram stain, ×1,000).
acm-20-74f2.tif
Fig. 3.
Unrooted neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA sequences of Psychrobacter sanguinis and 20 similar organisms.
acm-20-74f3.tif
Table 1.
Summary of previously reported cases with Psychrobacter sanguinis from human specimens
Patient Sex/Age Diagnosis Specimen Conventional cultures P. sanguinis identification methods Reported year Country Reference
12 M/84 M/50 Unknown Unknown Blood Blood Unknown Unknown 16S rRNA gene sequencing 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2012 2012 USA USA [11] [11]
2 M/50 Unknown Blood Unknown 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2012 USA [11]
3 F/61 Unknown Blood Unknown 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2012 USA [11]
4 M/66 Unknown Blood Unknown 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2012 USA [11]
5 F/64 Meningitis Cerebrospinal fluid No reliable identification (Psychrobacter sp. score=1.065) 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2014 France [12]
6 M/13 Meningitis Cerebrospinal fluid Unknown NGS metagenomics 2016 Mexico [13]
7 M/53 Unknown Blood Methylobacterium spp., Aeromonas 16S rRNA gene sequencing 2017 Korea Present

salmonicida, Moraxella group report

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