Korean J Clin Microbiol.  2010 Jun;13(2):93-97. 10.5145/KJCM.2010.13.2.93.

A Case Report of Tsukamurella pulmonis Infection Misidentified as Atypical Mycobacteria

• Cho AR
• Kim HR
• Lee MK
• Choi SH
• Yun SW

• KMID: 1461650
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5145/KJCM.2010.13.2.93

Abstract

We report a case of catheter-related bacteremia due to Tsukamurella pulmonis. T. pulmonis is a rare cause of opportunistic infection in immunosuppressed patients and in cases of indwelling foreign materials. This infection was nearly impossible to identify using conventional phenotyping methods because of its similarities to the related genera Nocardia, Rhodococcus, Gordonia, Streptomyces, Corynebacterium, and Mycobacterium. This organism was initially misidentified as Mycobacterium aubagnense through PCR-RFLP analysis. We correctly identified this organism using 16S rRNA sequencing combined with phenotyping tests.

Keyword

Tsukamurella pulmonis; Catheter; Bacteremia; Korea; Misidentification; Mycobacteria

MeSH Terms

Bacteremia
Catheters
Corynebacterium
Humans
Korea
Mycobacterium
Nocardia
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria
Opportunistic Infections
Rhodococcus
Streptomyces

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Tsukamurella pulmonis colonies on blood agar isolated from the blood culture The colony was yellow, dry, irregular and rough.

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  Fig. 2. Comparison of the DNA sequences of the 16S rRNA genes from the isolate and Tsukamurella species. The accession numbers of the sequences are as follows: T. pulmonis, AY741505; T. tyrosinosolvens, AY238514; T. inshonensis, AF283181; T. strandjordae, AF28-3283; and T. paurometabola, AF2-83280. The nucleotide sequences were deposited in GenBank

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