A Rare Pathogen in Acute Appendicitis: Two Cases with Comamonas testosteroni Infection and Literature Review

Abstract

Comamonas testosteroni (formerly Pseudomonas testosteroni) is a common environmental bacterium, which is not a part of the human microbiome. It is rarely found as an infectious agent in clinical practice. The bacterium has low virulence potency and rarely causes human disease. Although this agent is generally considered to be of low virulence, reports of infections with C. testosteroni are increasing. With the exception of intra-abdominal infections, C. testosteroni is mainly reported as an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients. However, C. testosteroni has also been reported as a pathogen in patients with appendicitis (especially when perforated), suggesting that this bacterium may belong to the normal intestinal microbiota of some individuals. In this article, we present two children with appendicitis in whom C. testosteroni was isolated from appendix tissue samples.

Unraveling the bacterial diversity of Cangar Hot Spring, Indonesia by Next Generation Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene

“…Recreational hot springs are known to harbor pathogens associated with human diseases such as Clostridium and Legionella strains (Chan et al 2015, Ghilamicael et al 2018. Our results suggested the occurrence of opportunistic pathogens causing bacteremia or the presence of bacteria in the human blood, such as Comamonas testosteroni (3.70%), Comamonas aquatica (3.54%), and Vogesella perlucida (0.59%) (Farooq et al 2017, Farshad et al 2012, Kaeuffer et al 2018, Tartar and Tartar 2020, Tiwari and Nanda 2019, Yu et al 2020. Furthermore, genus Blautia (3.21%) and Ruminococcus (2.86%), which are related to fecal contamination, were also observed (Devane et al 2020, Koskey et al 2014, Staley et al 2016).…”

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“…About the Comamonas species recovered from cultures of the patients, it is important to comment that in 1987 when the species of Pseudomonas acidovarans and Pseudomonas testosterone, were reclassified as members of the genus Comamonas by techniques of genetics and molecular biology (later C. acidovarans was reassigned as part of the genus Delftia). The species of Comamonas testosteroni is a common bacterial agent in the environment but is not considered as part of the human microbiome, its name derives from the ability to use testosterone as a source of carbon instead of glucose [6][7][8]. The most-reported related infection of this pathogen is in immunocompromised patients, e.g., diabetes, advanced age, terminal renal disease necessitating hemodialysis, association with malignancy, liver disease, and intravenous drug use.…”