The Gram-Negative Bacilli Isolated from Caves—Sphingomonas paucimobilis and Hafnia alvei and a Review of Their Involvement in Human Infections

Abstract

The opportunistic infections with Gram-negative bacilli are frequently reported. The clinical studies are focused on the course of human infectious and very often the source of infection remain unclear. We aim to see if the Gram-negative bacilli isolated from a non-contaminated environment—the caves—are reported in human infections. Eleven samples were collected from six Romanian caves. We used the standard procedure used in our clinical laboratory for bacterial identification and for antibiotic susceptibility testing of the cave isolates. Out of the 14 bacterial strains, three isolates are Gram-negative bacilli—one isolate belong to Hafnia alvei and two strains belong to Sphingomonas paucimobilis. We screened for the published studies—full-text original articles or review articles—that reported human infections with S. paucimobilis and H. alvei. Data sources—PubMed and Cochrane library. We retrieved 447 cases from 49 references—262 cases (58.61%) are S. paucimobilis infections and 185 cases (41.39%) are H. alvei infections. The types of infections are diverse but there are some infections more frequent; there are 116 cases (44.27%) and many infections of the bloodstream with S. paucimobilius (116 cases) and 121 cases (65.41%) are urinary tract infections with H. alvei. The acquired source of the bloodstream infections is reported for 93 of S. paucimobilis bloodstream infections—50 cases (43%) are hospital-acquired, and 40 cases (37%) are community-acquired. Most of the infections are reported in patients with different underlying conditions. There are 80 cases (17.9%) are reported of previously healthy persons. Out of the 72 cases of pediatric infections, 62 cases (86.11%) are caused by S. paucimobilis. There are ten death casualties—three are H. alvei infections, and seven are S. paucimobilis infections.

Multiple hepatosplenic abscesses in an immunocompetent host

“…A retrospective study by Ionescu et al showed that at least 43% of patients with bloodstream infections had a hospital-acquired infection and 37% had acquired one from the community. 12 Thus, this case of a 23-year male is quite peculiar because he is not only an immunocompetent person but also had no health care contact before this visit to our hospital.…”

A Rare Presentation of Sphingomonas paucimobilis in a Healthy Child: Acute Ischemic Stroke

“…The majority of the studies showed resistance against penicillin and cephalosporin. 7 One study reported that more than 50% of S. paucimobilis strains were resistant to beta-lactams, followed by fluoroquinolone (25.6%) and sulfonamides (20.9%). 6 Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, and aminoglycosides have all been successfully used to treat this bacterium.…”

A new pathogenic isolate of Kocuria kristinae identified for the first time in the marine fish Larimichthys crocea

“…Most of the bacteria have been reported to be zoonotic pathogens and to cause infections in humans, with the exception of Oceanbacillus sp. and Ruegeria sp., suggesting a potential fish-to-human bacterial transmission ( Savini et al, 2009 ; Bandeira Junior et al, 2018 ; Terceti et al, 2019 ; Yin et al, 2019 ; Cao et al, 2021 ; Enosi Tuipulotu et al, 2021 ; Ribeiro et al, 2021 ; Al-Eqabi et al, 2022 ; Alzahrani et al, 2022 ; Choi and Choi, 2022 ; Ionescu et al, 2022 ). Among these known pathogens in marine fish, one unreported bacterial strain in the marine-cultured fish L. crocea was characterized and named K. kristinae_LC .…”