<i>Corynebacterium ulcerans</i>Diphtheria in Japan

Hatanaka, Akio; Tsunoda, Atsunobu; Okamoto, Makoto; Ooe, Kenji; Nakamura, Akira; Miyakoshi, Masashi; Komiya, Takako; Takahashi, Motohide

doi:10.3201/eid0906.020645

Cited by 56 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Therefore, it has been recommended that the public health response to human infection with C. ulcerans should be the same as that for C. diphtheriae (3). Recently, a fatal case of necrotizing sinusitis due to toxigenic C. ulcerans was reported in a previously healthy farmer in Germany (16), and Hatanaka et al (9) reported a case of diphtheria-like illness in a Japanese woman caused by toxigenic C. ulcerans; the patient had no direct contact with dairy livestock or unpasteurized dairy products; however, a week before the illness, the patient had been scratched by a cat with rhinorrhea (9). C. ulcerans has also been isolated from an asymptomatic carrier who had close contact with infected cattle (3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans Strains Isolated from Humans and Domestic Cats in the United Kingdom

Zoysa¹,

Hawkey

Engler

et al. 2005

J Clin Microbiol

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In the United Kingdom there has been a marked increase in the number of human infections caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans. During 2002 and 2003 the organism was also isolated from several domestic cats with bilateral nasal discharge. As C. ulcerans has never previously been isolated from cats, the 16S rRNA gene from three cat isolates was sequenced to confirm their species identities. Fifty clinical isolates from the United Kingdom isolated from 1986 to 2003 and seven cat isolates were characterized by ribotyping to determine whether the ribotypes of the cat isolates were genotypically related to those found for human clinical isolates. For comparison, the genotypes of 11 overseas isolates and 13 isolates from H. R. Carne's collection isolated between 1933 and 1979 were also determined. Strains isolated from domestic cats were found to exhibit the predominant ribotypes observed among human clinical isolates, suggesting that C. ulcerans isolated from cats could be a potential reservoir for human infection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans Strains Isolated from Humans and Domestic Cats in the United Kingdom

Zoysa¹,

Hawkey

Engler

et al. 2005

J Clin Microbiol

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“…These results have the following implications: (i) C. ulcerans diphtheria probably does not result from a simple transfer of phages coding for the C. diphtheria toxin from C. diphtheria to C. ulcerans; (ii) toxins of C. ulcerans may induce either extrapharyngeal infection or diphtheria, depending more of the immunological status of the patient rather than on the nature of the toxin; and (iii) animals may be an environmental reservoir for sporadic cases of C. ulcerans diphtheria. The incidence of C. ulcerans infections in humans remains low; only a few cases have been reported in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, the United States, and Japan (2,5,7,8,14). In the United Kingdom, 24 cases of toxigenic C. ulcerans infections have been reported from 1993 to 1999 (8).…”

Section: Ulcerans Was First Isolated In 1926 By Gilbert and Stewarmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our patient did not have risk factors associated with C. ulcerans infections, such as drinking raw milk or contact with farm animals or their waste (5,9,15). Recently, C. ulcerans producing diphtheria-like toxin was isolated from cats with nasal discharge in the United Kingdom (13).…”

Section: Ulcerans Was First Isolated In 1926 By Gilbert and Stewarmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corynebacterium ulcerans in an Immunocompromised Patient with Diphtheria and Her Dog

et al. 2005

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Corynebacterium ulcerans causes zoonotic infections, such as diphtheria and extrapharyngeal infections. We report here the first case of a diphtheria-like illness caused by C. ulcerans in France and transmitted likely by a dog to an immunocompromised woman. CASE REPORTA 47-year-old woman was admitted in the emergency room at the Bicêtre University Hospital (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France) for severe dyspnea in October 2003. She was immunocompromised due to treatment by prednisone at 6 mg/daily, tacrolimus at 12 mg/daily, and mycophenolate nofetil at 1 g/daily since she had undergone a kidney graft 1 year previously. Ten days prior to her admission to Bicêtre Hospital, the patient had been treated to no avail for sinusitis by oral amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (2 g/daily).Physical examination revealed severe stridor. She had fever at 38°C and mild tachycardia. The endoscopic examination identified a pseudomembranous exudate covering the nasopharynx and laryngeal vestibulum, ulceration, and subglottic constriction. A blood test found an increase of C-reactive protein (100 g/ml) and a white blood cell count of 3,500/l. This severe dyspnea indicated intubation, and the patient was subsequently hospitalized in the intensive care unit.Throat swab showed coryneform and gram-positive rods. After 24 h of incubation on sheep blood agar at 37°C in 5% CO 2 , shiny and whitish colonies grew that produced a slight hemolysis. Microscopic examination of these colonies revealed gram-positive, coryneform rods arranged in palisades. They were catalase positive, showed a positive reaction for urease, were negative for pyrazinamidase, and fermented glucose, ribose, maltose, and glycogen. These characteristics corresponded to those of Corynebacterium ulcerans. Biochemical identification was confirmed by partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene that showed 99% identity of the sequence of that strain with that of a C. ulcerans reference strain (11).Since C. ulcerans may acquire lysogenic ␤-corynephages coding for a diphtheria-like toxin (DT), PCR test (using primers DT1 and DT2 for detection of tox gene of C. diphtheriae (6) was performed that showed the presence of the DT-like gene in C. ulcerans. Disk diffusion susceptibility testing was performed on Mueller-Hinton blood agar (supplemented with 5% [vol/vol] sheep blood) after overnight incubation at 35°C and 5% CO 2 . In the absence of standardized breakpoints for Corynebacterium, antibiotic susceptibility was determined by using the NCCLS criteria for Streptococcus spp. other than Streptococcus pneumoniae (10).

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“…The results of the present study showed that Salmonella strains circulating in wild Mallard ducks living in the Semnan suburb are potentially virulent for other hosts such as human and livestock because they contained virulence genes. Their importance and risk is higher considering that most published studies elsewhere in livestock emanate from small epizootics and are of either dead birds at feeding stations or infected birds in or around farms where the livestock was infected with Salmonella (Hatanaka et al, 2003). Waterfowl isolates could rapidly spread to other ducks because of their colonial and gathering characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and genetic characteristics of Salmonella strains in wild Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) in Semnan suburb, Iran

Staji¹,

Rezaei²,

Rassouli³

et al. 2017

BJVM

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Wild birds serve as major reservoirs for transmission of Salmonella to domestic animals and humans. Given the zoonotic potential of salmonellosis, the main goal of this research was to investigate the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of S. enterica infections in wild Mallard ducks. Faecal samples (n=247) from wild Mallard ducks were tested for the prevalence of Salmonella spp., and genotypes of strains were then differentiated by multiplex PCR. From the 247 faecal samples, 18 (7.29%) were positive for Salmonella spp. Biochemically the most predominant serovars were S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis (10 and 6 cases each, respectively), whereas only 2 serovars belonged to S. Infantis. Among the 10 S. Typhimurium serovars, nine strains were positive for rfbJ, fljB, invA, and fliC genes based on multiplex PCR assay and one strain contained only the invA gene. In S. Enteritidis serovars, PCR generated amplification products for spv and sefA genes, and a random sequence in all samples. The two S. Infantis contained the random sequence specific for Salmonella genus. With respect to the circulation of virulent Salmonella in wild ducks of Semnan suburbs, more work to assess the correlation of strains from wild life with human and livestock strains is needed.

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Corynebacterium ulceransDiphtheria in Japan

Cited by 56 publications

References 6 publications

Characterization of Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans Strains Isolated from Humans and Domestic Cats in the United Kingdom

Characterization of Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans Strains Isolated from Humans and Domestic Cats in the United Kingdom

Corynebacterium ulcerans in an Immunocompromised Patient with Diphtheria and Her Dog

Prevalence and genetic characteristics of Salmonella strains in wild Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) in Semnan suburb, Iran

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