Respiratory infection by Corynebacterium striatum: epidemiological and clinical determinants

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of advanced chronic respiratory disease, with frequent exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics for repeated and prolonged hospitalizations, favours the emergence of nosocomial respiratory infection by Gram-positive bacteria, such as outbreaks of Corynebacterium striatum. There is little evidence about patterns of respiratory infection, transmission and adaptive ability of this pathogen. Seventy-two C. striatum isolates from 51 advanced respiratory patients, mainly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were studied during 38 months. Patients were 74.8 ± 8.6 years old and 81.9% were men, who had required an average of 2.2 hospitalizations and 63.5 days in the hospital in the previous year. Of 49 isolates from 42 patients we were able to identify 12 clones by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), nine phenotypic variants and 22 antibiotic susceptibility patterns, and we determined their clinical and epidemiological determinants. MLSA allows identification of the existence of nosocomial outbreaks by transmission of the same or different clones, the persistence of the same clone in the environment or in patient airways for months. The study showed the high variability and adaptive capacity of the isolates, the antibiotic multidrug-resistance in all of them, and their contribution to a high morbidity and mortality (41%) during the study period.

Characteristics of Multidrug-Resistant <i>Corynebacterium</i> spp. Isolated from Blood Cultures of Hospitalized Patients in Japan

“…It was difficult to classify these infections as nosocomial outbreaks, since very large intervals existed between the sampling dates of these isolates. Recently, Renom et al reported that multidrugresistant C. striatum contributes to high morbidity and mortality (41z) in nosocomial respiratory infection patients (35). Since most patients received long-term hospitalizations in this study, a high level of concern remains regarding the continuous monitoring of C. striatum disseminating in the hospital environment.…”

Rapid transmission of multidrug-resistant Corynebacterium striatum among susceptible patients in a tertiary hospital in China

“…In recent years, C. striatum has been found to be a potentially important bacterial pathogen for humans, since it has been isolated from several kinds of sterile samples, including cerebral fluid, arthroedema, and others [2][3][4][5][6]. However, most of the C. striatum strains reported were isolated from the lower respiratory tracts of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases as well as other specific risk factors [7][8][9]. The other well-known risk factors include a longer hospitalization period and previous use of betalactam antibiotics and invasive devices for diagnosis and treatment [7][8][9].…”

Cornyebacterium striatum : an Emerging Bug

“…In the second case it was susceptible to vancomycin, linezolid and erythromycin. Another study in Spain where C. striatum isolates from 51 advanced respiratory patients, mainly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 56.9% specimens had C. striatum isolates in pure culture, in 26.4% they were accompanied by P. aeruginosa, in 8.3% by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and by other bacteria in 8.3% cases [17,18]. In second and third case C. striatum is accompanied by P. aeruginosa.…”