Mimicking Abdominal Tuberculosis: Abdominal Abscess Caused by Lawsonella clevelandensis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Emerging anaerobic and partially acid-fast Lawsonella clevelandensis: extended characterization by antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing

“…Our patient represents the ninth case described worldwide and the third from Europe [2e4]. Among the five case publications, the agent could not be cultivated in two [2,4], indicating that this organism is difficult to propagate in a clinical laboratory. As a result of this organism's fastidiousness and slow growth, no AST has previously been performed on this novel bacterium.…”

An Update on the Novel Genera and Species and Revised Taxonomic Status of Bacterial Organisms Described in 2016 and 2017

“…Two additional cases of infection caused by L. clevelandensis have been reported. The first occurred in a patient with ulcerative colitis and a right lower quadrant intra-abdominal abscess (35). Because of the acid-fast nature of the organism, the patient was initially thought to have intra-abdominal tuberculosis.…”

“…Because of the acid-fast nature of the organism, the patient was initially thought to have intra-abdominal tuberculosis. However, subsequent 16S rRNA gene sequencing performed on the abscess fluid identified the organism as L. clevelandensis, and the patient responded well to amoxicillin-clavulanate and drainage of the abscess (35). A very recent case report involved a 29-year-old woman who had a breast nodule that yielded a Gram-positive filamentous organism identified by molecular methods as L. clevelandensis (159).…”

Lawsonella clevelandensis is a rare cause of infected chronic contained rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysm

“…Lawsonella clevelandensis is a Gram-positive, partially acid-fast, non-spore-forming, anaerobic, catalase-positive, pleomorphic bacterium, considered a new species within the genus in the suborder Corynebacterineae [1,2]. To date, there have been only seven reported cases of this organism causing infection, having been detected in abdominal [3,4], spinal [2,5], liver [2] and breast abscesses [2,6]. In most cases, L. clevelandensis was isolated following prolonged enrichment culture under strict anaerobic atmospheric conditions (mean 7.4 days, range 4-13 days of incubation), but molecular techniques were sometimes required to detect the organism.…”

“… Lawsonella clevelandensis is a Gram-positive, partially acid-fast, non-spore-forming, anaerobic, catalase-positive, pleomorphic bacterium, considered a new species within the genus in the suborder Corynebacterineae [1, 2]. To date, there have been only seven reported cases of this organism causing infection, having been detected in abdominal [3, 4], spinal [2, 5], liver [2] and breast abscesses [2, 6]. In most cases, L.…”