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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2007, p. 2853-2857, Vol. 45, No. 9
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.00465-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Microbiology, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan,1 Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan,2 Toho University, Tokyo, Japan,3 Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan,4 Surugadai Nihon University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan,5 Nakano Sogo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan,6 Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan,7 Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan,8 Nihon University Itabashi Hospital, Tokyo, Japan,9 Dokkyo Medical University, Tochigi, Japan,10 Miyazaki University, Miyazaki, Japan,11
Received 1 March 2007/ Returned for modification 18 March 2007/ Accepted 17 June 2007
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In 2003, the first case of bacteremia with H. cinaedi in Japan was reported by Murakami et al. (10). The patient was HIV negative but was receiving immunosuppressive therapy after renal transplantation. However, as far as we know, the true prevalence of this organism as a pathogen causing bacteremia in Japan is still not yet known. We therefore performed a prospective laboratory-based multicenter study, and we describe the diagnostic problems involved in identifying the causative organism.
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Blood culture microbial identification.
Blood was collected in BACTEC culture bottles and incubated in a BACTEC 9050 blood culture system for at least 4 days (Becton Dickinson, BD Biosciences, Tokyo, Japan). Positive blood culture samples were further investigated for the microbial identification. To identify the bacterial isolates, phenotypic tests commonly used to characterize helicobacters were performed. Growth was examined under aerobic, microaerobic, and anaerobic conditions at 35°C. Bacteria were Gram stained and tested for urease activity by using a selective rapid urea test. Dihydrogen sulfide production,
-glutamyltransferase activity, hippurate hydrolysis, and nitrate reduction were determined by using the Campy identification system (bioMerieux Vitek, Tokyo, Japan). Some currently available biochemical tests have been reported to be unable to conclusively identify or distinguish H. cinaedi from other fastidious Campylobacter species or Helicobacter species (13). Therefore, we decided to examine both suspected Campylobacter isolates and suspected Helicobacter species for further identification.
Patients. Patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia were reviewed to determine the clinical background, the source of infection, and the outcome. The case report form contained the following information: age, gender, date of admission, ward, date of bacteremia, underlying medical conditions, exposure to invasive medical procedures, use of antibiotics or corticosteroids, management of bacteremia (antimicrobial treatment, catheter removal), and outcome.
Amplification of 16S rRNA. Bacteria were grown on blood agar plates for 48 h, and chromosomal DNA was prepared using hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide as described previously (17). PCR of the 16S rRNA gene was performed with the primers 8F (5'-AGA GTT TGA TCM TGG CTC AG-3') and 15R (5'-AAG GAG GTG ATC CAR CCG CA-3'), which were designed based on the Escherichia coli 16S rRNA numbering system. The PCR was performed in a DNA thermal cycler (PE Applied Biosystems Division, Foster City, CA) in reaction mixtures of 25 µl containing 20 ng of genomic DNA, 2.5 µl of 10-fold-concentrated reaction buffer (QIAGEN, Inc., Tokyo, Japan), 160 nM (each) primer, 0.625 U of Taq DNA polymerase (QIAGEN), and 250 µM (each) deoxynucleotide (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech, Tokyo, Japan). Samples were incubated at 94°C for 2 min to denature the target DNA. They were then cycled 30 times at 94°C for 1 min and annealed at 55°C for 1 min and 72°C for 2 min, with a final incubation at 72°C for 10 min to complete the extension.
16S rRNA data analysis. The fragment for sequencing was amplified by PCR, and the product was purified with a QIAquick PCR purification kit (QIAGEN). The nucleotide sequence was determined directly from the PCR fragment with a PCR-based reaction using the ABI PRISM BigDye Terminator cycle sequencing ready reaction kit (PE Applied Biosystems Division) and analyzed using the PE Applied Biosystems 310 DNA sequencer (PE Applied Biosystems Division) at the Miyazaki University Gene Research Center. To determine the central region of the 16S rRNA fragment, the primers MF (5'-AAT ATT GCG CAA TGG GGGAA-3') and MR (5'-GGC CAT GAT GAC TTG ACG TC-3') were used for sequencing (9). Computer analyses of the DNA sequences were performed using Genetics Computer Group programs; database similarity searches were performed through the National Center for Biotechnology Information using the BLASTX algorithm.
Similarity matrices were constructed from the aligned sequence, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages with Genetyx-win software (version 5.0.4).
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TABLE 1. Results of blood cultures and H. cinaedi positivity
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TABLE 2. Characteristics of suspected H. cinaedi isolates and other, related organisms
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TABLE 3. Background data for patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia
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FIG. 1. Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. High degrees of sequence homology among the strains are demonstrated.
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Clinical characteristics. The clinical characteristics of the six cases are shown in Table 3. All patients except one (83%) were female, and the median age was 52 years (range, 17 to 71 years). At the time of diagnosis of bacteremia, all patients were hospitalized. Underlying diseases of the patients were as follows: cancer or hematologic disorder was documented for three patients (50%), and one of these patients was undergoing chemotherapy with immunosuppressant drugs. Two other patients were undergoing hemodialysis for chronic renal failure. Another patient underwent a cesarean section because of threatened premature delivery. All patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia had fever, but colitis was not seen in any of these patients. Neutropenia was present in only one case (16.6%). Bacteremia was generally a late complication during the hospital stay. All patients recovered after antimicrobial therapy, including expanded-spectrum cephalosporin and carbapenem.
Nucleotide sequence accession numbers. The 16S rRNA gene sequences determined in this study have been deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers listed in Table 2.
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Recently Kitamura et al. (5) reported 11 cases of H. cinaedi bacteremia and cellulitis that occurred consecutively during a particular period in the same hospital. Interestingly, as described in their report, no patient had any underlying immunocompromising conditions or had been given immunosuppressive agents. However, in our study most of our cases of H. cinaedi bacteremia had been found to have some underlying immunocompromising disease or the patients were undergoing chemotherapy with immunosuppressant drugs. We cannot clearly explain the discrepancy between these studies, but these results suggest that H. cinaedi should not be regarded as simply an opportunistic pathogen.
H. cinaedi is a fastidious organism, rendering microbiological diagnosis difficult. It rarely grows on traditional culture media. Growth may sometimes be obtained on rich, nonselective media (blood or chocolate agar) incubated in a microaerobic (5% O2) atmosphere at 35°C. It is well documented that the biochemical identification of Helicobacter strains based on a limited number of tests is difficult, since these isolates frequently exhibit unusual phenotypic profiles within the same species (12, 14). Therefore, molecular techniques have been used to determine the nucleotide sequence of the rRNA gene from these organisms for taxonomic purposes. The 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison is well established and has been used successfully to discern the relationship between some closely related and uncharacterized isolates (6). In the present study, analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence data for H. cinaedi and Flexispira rappini revealed that this approach has limitations for species-level identification of helicobacters, confirming previously published data (11, 14). Although optimal identification strategies for closely related Helicobacter spp. have not been established, a combination of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and restricted biochemical characterization often does not suffice to identify helicobacters.
Interestingly, all immunocompetent patients and neonates with H. cinaedi disease had been in contact with animals. Helicobacters also colonize the gastrointestinal tracts of many animals, including domestic species, such as cats, dogs, pigs, and poultry. Asymptomatic colonization with H. cinaedi has also been found in a wide range of animals, for example, rats, hamsters, dogs, cats, foxes, poultry, wild birds, and monkeys. Zenner has proposed that hamsters serve as a reservoir species for zoonotic infection of humans by H. cinaedi (18). Al-Soud et al. developed and evaluated a PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis technique for detection and identification of different Helicobacter species (2). Application of the PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis method to DNA extracted from feces of zoo animals revealed that baboons and red pandas also are colonized by H. cinaedi. Although we do not have any definite data about whether the patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia had any close contact with animals, it may be possible that the H. cinaedi originated with their domestic animals.
Two of the three patients in Toranomon Hospital have the same clinical problem, such as receiving dialysis for chronic renal failure. Interestingly, the first case of H. cinaedi bacteremia in Japan involved a patient who also had been receiving dialysis (10). Therefore, we think one of the risk factors for H. cinaedi bacteremia may be renal failure and receiving dialysis. We think it is doubtful that the source of infection exists in some of the common services, especially in the dialysis unit, because the period between these two episodes was about 4 months. Furthermore, the dialysis machines are properly maintained and disinfected, and contamination of the system had not been detected by routine examination.
Some clinical reports documented that immunocompromised patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia usually require multiple or prolonged courses of antibiotics prior to the resolution of their infections. However, the courses of our patient's illness were not prolonged, and they showed good response to the antimicrobial treatment. One of the reasons for this discrepancy may be the difference in the levels of immunosuppression of the patients. Another reason may be the different choices of antimicrobial agents for the treatment of sepsis. No clear guidelines are available in the literature concerning the choice of antibiotic therapy. Erythromycin is a first-line agent for treatment of these fastidious organisms, but erythromycin-resistant H. cinaedi has been identified (7). Ciprofloxacin is an alternative agent for H. cinaedi infections, but there are some reports of recurrent disease after fluoroquinolone treatment (3, 4, 8, 15), suggesting that fluoroquinolones alone may not completely eradicate H. cinaedi in immunocompromised patients. The results of an in vitro susceptibility test in a case report showed that H. cinaedi is susceptible to imipenem (16). In our study, most of the patients with H. cinaedi bacteremia were treated with ß-lactams, including expanded- and broad-spectrum cephems and carbapenems. Therefore, we recommend using these beta-lactams for the treatment of bacteremia with H. cinaedi.
Sequence analysis of H. cinaedi isolates showed that three of these isolates had identical 16S RNA sequences. Furthermore, two of these strains were isolated from the same hospital. We next investigated the patients' background information, but they have nothing in common and we could not find any relationship among these cases. Whereas the finding of identical 16S RNA sequences among isolates does not always suggest that they are derived from the same clone, it may be possible that some related isolates are spreading in our country. Therefore, we would like to do further investigation with a greater number of clinical isolates.
In conclusion, our prospective, multicenter analysis finally identified only 6 isolates (0.06%) from 16,743 blood cultures as H. cinaedi. All patients with bacteremia with H. cinaedi were HIV negative, but most of them were immunocompromised hosts. Although it seems rare in Japan, we should not neglect the possibility of H. cinaedi bacteremia.
We are indebted to J. Patrick Barron of the International Medical Communications Center of Tokyo Medical University for his review of the manuscript.
Published ahead of print on 27 June 2007. ![]()
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