Open AccessClostridium ramosum rapidly identified by MALDI-TOF MS. A rare gram-variable agent of bacteraemia.
Author(s) -
María C. Legaria,
Susana García,
V Tudanca,
Claudia Barberis,
Lucía Cipolla,
L Cornet,
Ángela Famiglietti,
Daniel Stecher,
Carlos Vay
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
access microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2516-8290
DOI - 10.1099/acmi.0.000137
Subject(s) - gram staining , bacteremia , microbiology and biotechnology , gram , medicine , matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization , biology , bacteria , chemistry , antibiotics , genetics , organic chemistry , adsorption , desorption
Clostridium ramosumis an enteric anaerobic, endospore-forming, gram-positive rod with a low GC content that is rarely associated with disease in humans. We present a case ofC. ramosumbacteraemia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second case ofC. ramosumbacteraemia in an elderly patient presenting with fever, abdominal pain and bilious emesis. We highlight the Gram stain variability, the lack of visualization of spores and the atypical morphology of the colonies that showedC. ramosumin a polymicrobial presentation that initially appeared to show monomicrobial bacteraemia. The microorganism was rapidly identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). We present a comprehensive literature review of 32 cases of clinical infections byC. ramosumin which we describe, if available, sex, age, clinical symptoms, predisposing conditions, other organisms present in the blood culture, other samples withC. ramosum , identification methodology, treatment and outcome.