Corynebacterium macginleyi Conjunctivitis in Canada

Abstract

This report describes for the first time Corynebacterium macginleyi as a cause of conjunctivitis in Canada, where menaquinone analysis was done as part of the strain characterization. This species is typically isolated from ocular surfaces of patients from Europe and Japan. The isolate was resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin. CASE REPORTA 54-year-old microbiologist was seen by an ophthalmologist in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, for evaluation of bilateral conjunctivitis. She had no history of eye injury or prior eye complaints, nor was a laboratory-acquired infection suspected. None of her family members had similar symptoms. She had no recent travel outside North America. Swabs from each eye were sent within several hours to a hospital laboratory for direct microscopy and bacterial culture. Until culture results were known, the patient was told to apply an over-the-counter "tear refresher" to the eyes to provide some relief. Approximately 5 days later, when microbiological results became apparent, the patient was prescribed 1 drop of 0.5% moxifloxacin hydrochloride in each eye 3 times per day for 7 days. The infection by that point had begun to resolve, but the patient did comply with the entire treatment course and since has had no recurrence. No follow-up culture was done to see if the organism had been eradicated from the eyes.At the hospital laboratory, after ϳ48 h of incubation under aerobic and facultatively anaerobic conditions at 35°C on 5% sheep blood agar, the culture from each sample grew fine (ϳ1-mm-diameter), round, and convex colonies that were slightly alpha-hemolytic. Growth in broth was enhanced by the addition of ϳ1% (vol/vol) sterile Tween 80, and so a lipophilic corynebacterium was suspected. Staining revealed Gram-positive coccobacilli in short chains and clusters. A few larger Gram-positive bacillary forms (thicker at one end) were also found interspersed among the coccobacilli. No other bacterial types were recovered. Isolates from each eye were deemed to be identical to each other, and both strains were catalase positive, oxidase negative, and facultatively anaerobic. The API Coryne system (bioMérieux, Montreal, Canada) was used for identification by the testing laboratory, generating API code 5100305 after a 24-h incubation, and the bacterium could be identified as Corynebacterium macginleyi with a 99.5% probability by that system.One strain was referred to the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) for confirmation of identification (strain NML 080212). Because such isolates have not been previously described as being recovered in Canada, the strain was extensively characterized. Conventional carbohydrate broth sugars enhanced with ϳ1% serum (vol/vol) and other biochemical testing procedures were used as reviewed previously (2). This strain slowly fermented glucose, sucrose, and ribose, but in contrast to the results of Riegel et al. (14) also slowly fermented glycogen and maltose as well as mannose, glycerol, and fructose but not galactose, lactose, mannitol, raffinose, ...

Fluoroquinolone resistance of Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from healthy conjunctiva and analysis of their mutations in quinolone-resistance determining region

“…was cultured at the highest rate. Ochrobactrum intermedium was observed in 23 of 33 eyes with Ochrobactrum spp, and this strain was not well identi ed by previous biochemical research methods, but is known to be identi ed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, a commonly-used identi cation method [26]. In other words, in previous domestic studies [5][6][7], it was thought that it was di cult to identify this strain because bacteria were mainly identi ed using biochemical methods.…”

“…In ammation caused by this strain was uncommon, so it was only reported as a case in 2010, and it was reported that it mainly caused conjunctivitis, keratitis, and endophthalmitis. [24][25][26][27][28] It is generally known that it does not cultivate well in healthy conjunctiva. In this study, the single strain was cultured the second most after S. epidermidis.…”

Fluoroquinolone resistance of Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from healthy conjunctiva and analysis of their mutations in quinolone-resistance determining region

“…was cultured at the highest rate. Ochrobactrum intermedium was observed in 23 of 33 eyes with Ochrobactrum spp, and this strain was not well identified by previous biochemical research methods, but is known to be identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, a commonly-used identification method [ 23 ]. In other words, in previous domestic studies [ 5 – 7 ], it was thought that it was difficult to identify this strain because bacteria were mainly identified using biochemical methods.…”

Contact Lens-Related Infectious Keratitis with White Plaque Formation Caused by Corynebacterium propinquum

“…It is known that Corynebacterium macginleyi is the dominant species among nondiphtherial corynebacteria isolated from the normal conjunctival sac and from cases of bacterial conjunctivitis (3,5,(8)(9)(10)(11). However, the literature contains only a few reports of corneal infection caused by C. macginleyi (6,11,12).…”

“…These bacteria occasionally cause conjunctivitis in aged patients, suturerelated corneal infection, and on rare occasions, keratitis in compromised ocular surfaces (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). However, there is little information about which species are related to keratitis, because species identification is not performed routinely in most hospitals or laboratories.…”