Microbiological and Clinical Aspects of Raoultella spp.

Abstract

The genus Raoultella was established in 2001. Species of Raoultella and Klebsiella share many ecological, biochemical, clinical, and microbiological features. Given the shortcomings of available technology for species identification in the clinical microbiology laboratory, are practically indistinguishable. Since the late 2000s there has been an increase in case reports of human Raoultella infections. Therefore, several authors are postulating that Raoultella spp. are rare and/or emerging pathogens.Conclusions:Raoultella spp. are very similar to Klebsiella spp. The epidemiology and the clinical relevance of the human Raoultella spp. infections is uncertain and further studies are required. The previous difficulties in the identification of Raoultella spp. and the introduction of more precise identification techniques may explain the recent increase in the number of case reports. Raoultella spp. might be rather underdiagnosed than rare or emerging pathogens.

Sepsis From Multisystem Infection With Multidrug-Resistant Raoultella ornithinolytica

“…They are also found to colonize some insects like bees, termites, and ticks. R. ornithinolytica are versatile bacteria [1][2][3][4].…”

“…R. ornithinolytica has been implicated in scombroid syndrome due to the production of histamine in certain species and is related to the consumption of tuna, bonito, sardines, and mackerels that are stored poorly [1,[3][4]. They have been found to also colonize humans in the throat and have been identified in human saliva and the gastrointestinal tract.…”

“…They have also been found to colonize the gastrointestinal tract and throat of humans. R. ornithinolytica has been implicated in histamine poisoning [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…It has also been found to cause disease in community-acquired infections as well as nosocomial infections in patients who had undergone invasive procedures. Immunocompromised individuals include patients with diabetes mellitus, oncology patients, and patients with solid organ transplants on immunosuppressive therapy and the extremes of ages [1,3,[6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…There are several acquired genes described in them, leading to increasing antibiotic resistance and multidrug resistance. There are few reported cases of multidrug resistance R. ornithinolytica [1,2,5,[11][12][13].…”