The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 48, Issue 10 965-970, Copyright © 1999 by Society for General Microbiology

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Aureobacterium masquerading as 'Corynebacterium aquaticum' infection: case report and review of the literature

D. I. Grove, V. Der-Haroutian and R. M. Ratcliff
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Woodville, South Australia.

A gram-positive bacillus was isolated repeatedly from blood taken through the lumina of a central venous catheter of a patient with multiple myeloma who developed febrile neutropenia following chemotherapy. The bacterium was identified by the API CORYNE system as 'Corynebacterium aquaticum'. Gene analysis targeting the 16S rRNA indicated that the organism had a 99.5% identity with Aureobacterium liquefaciens although there were two phenotypic characteristics at variance with the description of this species. Problems remain with the routine identification of 'C. aquaticum' and Aureobacterium species. The few clinical reports on patients infected with 'C. aquaticum' and A. liquefaciens indicate that these are rare infections often associated with immunocompromise.

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