A rubber-degrading organism growing from a human body

Abstract

Patients with hematological malignancies are susceptible to unusual infections, because of the use of broad-spectrum anti-infective agents, invasive procedures, and other immunocompromising procedures and medications. Gordonia polyisoprenivorans, a ubiquitous environmental aerobic actinomycete belonging to the family of Gordoniaceae in the order Actinomycetales, is a very rare cause of bacteremia in these patients. We report the first case of pneumonia with associated bacteremia due to this organism, which was initially described in 1999 as a rubber-degrading bacterium following isolation from stagnant water inside a deteriorated automobile tire. We believe that hematologically immunocompromised patients on broad-spectrum antibiotics and with long-term central catheters select the possibility of infection with G. polyisoprenivorans. These infections can be prevented by handling catheters under aseptic conditions. We propose that blood cultures of persistently febrile neutropenic patients should be incubated for at least 4 weeks. Being a rare infection, there are no data available on treatment other than early removal of the foreign bodies.

Involvement of Two Latex-Clearing Proteins during Rubber Degradation and Insights into the Subsequent Degradation Pathway Revealed by the Genome Sequence of Gordonia polyisoprenivorans Strain VH2

“…ORFs with similarity to heparin binding hemagglutinin (GPOL_c09400, GPOL_c09490), which is required for mycobacterial extrapulmonary dissemination (66), are also located in the genome. The latter might be one explanation for why G. polyisoprenivorans was also shown to cause pneumonia in a patient (37). A phospholipase C (GPOL_c14800) involved in the pathogenesis of several bacteria, including M. tuberculosis (70), is also encoded in the genome of strain VH2.…”

“…A phospholipase C (GPOL_c14800) involved in the pathogenesis of several bacteria, including M. tuberculosis (70), is also encoded in the genome of strain VH2. However, since all case reports of infections due to this species have in common that infected patients had fundamental health problems and were immunocompromised (37,45,92), G. polyisoprenivorans is clearly less pathogenic than M. tuberculosis.…”

“…All infected patients had fundamental health problems, were immunocompromised, and possessed a Hickman or Broviac catheter. The infections are believed to derive from these rubber-like-material-containing indwelling catheters (37,45,92). It is assumed that the ability of G. polyisoprenivorans strains to produce exopolysaccharides and mycolic acids enables them to form biofilms and to adhere to hydrophobic substrates, such as rubber and rubber-like polymer surfactants, e.g., on the intravascular devices (4,92).…”

Gordonia Species as Emerging Causes of Continuous-Ambulatory-Peritoneal-Dialysis-Related Peritonitis Identified by 16S rRNA and secA1 Gene Sequencing and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)

“…In fact, two of the four patients in this study had broken Tenckhoff catheter tips 1 to 2 weeks prior to the development of peritonitis, which likely predisposed those patients to the entry of the Gordonia bacteria into the peritoneal cavities. Notably, Gordonia species have been most commonly reported to be causes of indwelling device-associated infections (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), in line with these cases of Gordonia CAPD-related peritonitis.…”

Gordonia Bacteremia

“…Three weeks later, she developed right lower lobe pneumonia with associated bacteremia. A blood culture (2/2) grew a Gram-positive rod after 4 weeks that was identified by the CDC as G. polyisoprenivorans (22). Interestingly, there was no evidence of infection at the site of the central venous catheter insertion in all three of these cases.…”