No abstract

Bordetella holmesii is a recently identified gram-negative bacterial species associated with bacteremia, endocarditis, and respiratory illness, mainly in immunocompromised patients. From isolates submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1983 through 2000 for further identification, we identified 30 patients with B. holmesii bacteremia. Of the 26 patients for whom data were available, 22 (85%) were anatomically or functionally asplenic. In 25 (96%) of the 26 patients, B. holmesii was the only organism isolated from blood samples, and 14 patients (54%) had B. holmesii recovered from > or =2 blood cultures. The clinical course of the infection was generally characterized by a nonspecific febrile illness. Twenty-one patients (81%) were treated with various antimicrobial agents, and 20 (77%) were admitted to the hospital. There were no deaths. Our findings support evidence that B. holmesii may be a true pathogen associated with bacteremia among asplenic patients.

C6786, the clinical isolate of the ‘Oklahoma’ strain of Pseudomonas (now Burkholderia) pseudomallei, was originally isolated in 1973 from a wound infection resulting from a farming accident in Oklahoma, USA. Environmental isolates C7532 and C7533 from the Oklahoma accident site were found to match C6786. These three isolates and a clinical isolate originally identified as B. pseudomallei that was recovered from a person in Georgia, USA, involved in an automobile accident were characterized by biochemical, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, multilocus sequence typing and DNA–DNA hybridization analyses. Results indicated that these strains comprise a novel species. The name Burkholderia oklahomensis sp. nov. is proposed, with strain C6786T (=LMG 23618T=NCTC 13387T=CCUG 51349T) as the type strain.

Bergeyella zoohelcum is an uncommon zoonotic pathogen typically associated with cat or dog bites. Previously, only five cases of B. zoohelcum infection have been reported. We report the isolation and characterization of a fastidious Bergeyella species from acute cellulitis in the upper extremity of a 60-year-old woman. The organism was too fastidious for identification and susceptibility testing with traditional culture methods. The isolate was characterized further by PCR amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene with broad-range eubacterial primers. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S ribosomal DNA sequence indicated that this isolate was a member of the species B. zoohelcum (previously Weeksella zoohelcum), a gram-negative bacillus that is rarely associated with infections in humans. Despite sharing a close genetic relationship with other B. zoohelcum strains, this isolate was extremely fastidious in nature, raising the possibility that similar strains from cat or dog bite wound infections have been underreported.