After the initial description of Arthrobacter spp. isolated from clinical specimens in the mid-1990s, very few further reports on Arthrobacter spp. have appeared in the clinical microbiology literature. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the distribution of Arthrobacter spp. and Arthrobacter-like bacteria encountered in clinical specimens by studying 50 consecutively isolated or received strains of large-colony-forming, whiteish-grayish, non-cheese-like-smelling, nonfermentative gram-positive rods by applying phenotypic methods as well as 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We observed a very heterogenous distribution, with the 50 strains belonging to 20 different taxa and each of 13 strains as a single representative of its particular taxon. Thirty-eight strains represented true Arthrobacter strains, 7 strains belonged to the genus Brevibacterium, 2 were Microbacterium species, and each of 3 single strains was a member of the rarely encountered genera Pseudoclavibacter, Leucobacter, and Brachybacterium, respectively. A. cumminsii (n ؍ 14) and A. oxydans (n ؍ 11) were the most frequently found species. The present report describes the first three A. aurescens strains isolated from human clinical specimens. Comprehensive antimicrobial susceptibility data are given for the 38 Arthrobacter isolates.Arthrobacter spp. belong to the heterogenous group of coryneform bacteria and had not been reported to have been isolated from human clinical specimens until the mid-1990s (7). This was somewhat surprising, because Arthrobacter spp. are the most frequently isolated coryneform bacteria when soil specimens are incubated aerobically, indicating that humans are unceasingly exposed to these bacteria. After the initial descriptions (7, 9), only a few other studies have been published regarding the appearance of Arthrobacter spp. in clinical specimens (1,10,11,12,23). Therefore, we have continued to collect Arthrobacter isolates either from our routine clinical laboratory procedures or as reference cultures sent to us. The present report outlines the data pertaining to 50 consecutive Arthrobacter or Arthrobacter-like strains collected by one of the authors (G. Funke). Arthrobacter and Arthrobacter-like strains were defined for the purposes of the present study as large-colony-forming, whiteish-grayish, non-cheese-like-smelling, nonfermentative gram-positive rods. The aim of the study was to investigate the identity of Arthrobacter and Arthrobacterlike strains by use of phenotypic and molecular genetic methods in order to finally reveal the true distribution within clinical Arthrobacter isolates. In addition, we determined MICs of a variety of antimicrobials against these bacteria, since limited data exist in the relevant literature on the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Arthrobacter spp. As a byproduct of our investigations, we describe two new bacterial species, namely, Arthrobacter sanguinis sp. nov. and Brevibacterium ravenspurgense sp. nov. MATERIALS AND METHODS Strains.The 50 strains examined in the present s...
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