Methylobacterium mesophilicum Synovitis in an Alcoholic

Discordant Carbapenem Susceptibility in Methylobacterium Species and Its Application as a Method for Phenotypic Identification

“…These organisms are widely distributed in nature and have been isolated from chlorinated potable water supplies (6). Their presence and role as opportunistic pathogens and presence in the nosocomial setting are well documented (1,4,5,7,9,10,14).…”

Underdiagnosis of urinary tract infection caused by Methylobacterium species with current standard processing of urine culture and its clinical implications

“…The present study supports a conclusion of the paradoxical fact that absence of reported UTI caused by the environmental Methylobacterium species results, at least in part, from the shortcoming of the current standard processing of urine culture adopted by the vast majority of clinical microbiology laboratories. The other possible explanation for the absence of reported UTI due to Methylobacterium species is the relatively low clinical virulence of this pathogen (Kaye et al, 1992;Liu et al, 1997;Sanders et al, 2000), which makes UTI caused by this pathogen selflimiting or perhaps cured with prescribed antibiotics aimed at the presumed uropathogens belonging to Enterobacteriaceae. For this reason, the need for a test for Methylobacterium species in urine has not been recognized.…”

“…Infections caused by Methylobacterium species have been increasingly reported and clinical sources of these bacteria include blood (Kaye et al, 1992), dialysate (Rutherford et al, 1988), lymph node, bone marrow (Fernandez et al, 1997), skin (Strazzi et al, 1992) and synovium (Liu et al, 1997). All patients reported so far in the literature suffering from invasive infections with Methylobacterium isolated from normally sterile sites were immunocompromised (Fernandez et al, 1997;Kaye et al, 1992;Korvick et al, 1989;Liu et al, 1997;Rutherford et al, 1988;Sanders et al, 2000;Smith et al, 1985;Zabransky et al, 1997). It is noteworthy that these environmental bacteria have not yet been reported to cause urinary tract infection (UTI).…”

Usefulness of Bacteriological Monitoring of Endoscope Reprocessing

“…Methylobacterium is a fastidious, slowly growing gram-negative rod that forms pink colonies on agar plates and is a common contaminant in water (Sanders et al, 2000). Nevertheless it has been described as opportunistic human pathogen and has been shown to be able to cause colonization and infections in immunocompromised patients (Kaye et al, 1992;Liu et al, 1997). Two publications of Methylobacterium contamination related to endoscopic procedures were found in the literature.…”