This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Funke, G. Articles by Collins, M. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Funke, G. Articles by Collins, M. D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 08 1997, 1978-1983, Vol 35, No. 8
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Corynebacterium imitans sp. nov. isolated from patients with suspected diphtheria

G Funke, A Efstratiou, D Kuklinska, RA Hutson, A De Zoysa, KH Engler and MD Collins
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.funke@immv.unizh.ch

A 5-month-old boy of a Romanian family traveling via Ukraine to Poland developed a respiratory disease that resembled and that was initially diagnosed as pharyngeal diphtheria. The child recovered after treatment with antidiphtheria antitoxin. A coryneform bacterium had been isolated from a nasopharyngeal specimen from the child and was initially identified as an atypical Corynebacterium diphtheriae strain. Seven adults who had contact with either the child or an adult contact person also developed symptoms of pharyngeal diphtheria, were also treated with antitoxin, and recovered uneventfully. Coryneform bacteria similar to that originating from the index patient were also isolated from the throat swabs of three adults. Detailed biochemical and chemotaxonomic investigations revealed that the coryneform bacteria belonged to the genus Corynebacterium and could be differentiated from all other defined species of this genus. Ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis demonstrated that all four patients' isolates were of clonal origin. The diphtheria toxin gene and its product were not detected either by PCR assays or by the Elek test, making a possible disease association of the Corynebacterium more unlikely. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the coryneform bacterium represented a new subline within the genus Corynebacterium, for which the name Corynebacterium imitans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NCTC 13015 (DSM 44264; CCUG 36877).

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Yassin, A. F. (2007). Corynebacterium ureicelerivorans sp. nov., a lipophilic bacterium isolated from blood culture. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 57: 1200-1203 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Fernandez-Garayzabal, J. F., Vela, A. I., Egido, R., Hutson, R. A., Lanzarot, M. P., Fernandez-Garcia, M., Collins, M. D. (2004). Corynebacterium ciconiae sp. nov., isolated from the trachea of black storks (Ciconia nigra). Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 54: 2191-2195 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bernard, K. A., Munro, C., Wiebe, D., Ongsansoy, E. (2002). Characteristics of Rare or Recently Described Corynebacterium Species Recovered from Human Clinical Material in Canada. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40: 4375-4381 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Collins, M. D., Hoyles, L., Lawson, P. A., Falsen, E., Robson, R. L., Foster, G. (1999). Phenotypic and Phylogenetic Characterization of a New Corynebacterium Species from Dogs: Description of Corynebacterium auriscanis sp. nov.. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 3443-3447 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tanner, M. A., Shoskes, D., Shahed, A., Pace, N. R. (1999). Prevalence of Corynebacterial 16S rRNA Sequences in Patients with Bacterial and "Nonbacterial" Prostatitis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 1863-1870 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wauters, G., Van Bosterhaut, B., Janssens, M., Verhaegen, J. (1998). Identification of Corynebacterium amycolatum and Other Nonlipophilic Fermentative Corynebacteria of Human Origin. J. Clin. Microbiol. 36: 1430-1432 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Funke, G., Lawson, P. A., Collins, M. D. (1998). Corynebacterium riegelii sp. nov., an Unusual Species Isolated from Female Patients with Urinary Tract Infections. J. Clin. Microbiol. 36: 624-627 [Abstract] [Full Text]