Ann Clin Microbiol.  2014 Sep;17(3):95-98. 10.5145/ACM.2014.17.3.95.

Misidentification of Brevibacterium casei as Propionibacterium acnes Isolated from the Blood of a Patient with Malignant Lymphoma

• Jung YJ
• Huh HJ
• Ki CS
• Lee NY

• KMID: 1971102
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2014.17.3.95

Abstract

Brevibacterium spp. are Gram-positive, irregularly rod-shaped, strictly aerobic bacteria that resemble corynebacteria. Since they are a part of normal skin flora, they have been regarded as apathogenic, and human infections related to them are very rare. A 46-year-old man previously diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma presented with fever without a definitive infectious source. Blood cultures from both peripheral blood and a central venous catheter showed that only aerobic bottles grew contaminants, while anaerobic bottles did not. Although the automated microbial identification system indicated Propionibacterium acnes, the isolated species was identified as B. casei by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Our case emphasizes the utilization of 16S rRNA sequence analysis when the result from an automated system does not correspond with other laboratory findings. This is the first case of catheter-related blood stream infection due to B. casei identified by 16S rRNA sequence analysis.

Keyword

Brevibacterium casei bacteremia; 16S rRNA sequence analysis

MeSH Terms

Bacteria, Aerobic
Brevibacterium*
Central Venous Catheters
Fever
Humans
Lymphoma*
Lymphoma, B-Cell
Middle Aged
Propionibacterium acnes*
Rivers
Sequence Analysis
Skin

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. (A) Whitish-gray colored sm-all colonies of B. casei on sheep blood agar plate. (B) Colonies magnified thr-ough Dissecting Microscope (magnifi-cation, ×6).

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  Fig. 2. Peripheral blood Gram stain of Brevibacterium casei under a light microscope (×1,000). Gram positive, rod-shaped coryneform bacteria.

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