Clinical and Bacteriological Studies in Four Cases of Pulmonary Infection Caused by Protomonas extorquens

Phenotypic and genetic diversity of chlorine-resistant Methylobacterium strains isolated from various environments

“…One of the reasons for this is that the standard method used previously for heterotrophic plate counts of bacteria involved incubation at 37ЊC for 48 h on standard agar medium (1), although these culture conditions are unfavorable for the detection of Methylobacterium strains. Since the methylotrophic bacteria are relatively slow growers (19,22), it is necessary to prolong incubation time to recover these bacteria from the environment. Thus, it can be assumed that methylotrophs as major inhabitants of drinking water and chlorinated environments have been overlooked for a long time.…”

“…The capacity of the methylotrophic bacteria for chlorine resistance may explain why these organisms frequently occur in human environments. Moreover, some pinkpigmented bacteria that are now assigned to the genus Methylobacterium were isolated as opportunistic pathogens from clinical sources (15,16,22,43), including the blood of a patient with AIDS (31), and from hospital environments (10). In Japan, therefore, the frequent occurrence and colonization of these bacteria in potable water systems have in recent years received much attention as a potential public health hazard.…”

The Family Methylobacteriaceae

“…Examples are the fortuitous recovery of Mtb fujisawaense after long incubation of mycobacterial blood cultures (Fanci et al 2010), infections attributed to Pseudomonas mesophilica (Gilardi and Faur 1984;Rutherford et al 1988), Protomonas extorquens (Hayashi et al 1990;Holton et al 1990), and Vibrio extorquens (Lambert et al 1983).…”