Misidentification of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae as a Corynebacterium species with low virulence in a child with endocarditis.
A 6-year-old boy presented to a university hospital in Malaysia with infective endocarditis complicating cyanotic congenital heart disease. Blood cultures showed a gram-positive, aerobic, coryneform-like bacillus identified by the hospital laboratory as Corynebacterium xerosis, but a reference laboratory identified the organism as a toxigenic strain of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The two laboratories concurred on all biochemical test results except for sucrose fermentation.
Pennie
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RA
McMaster University School of Medicine, McMaster University Medical Centre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Malik
A S
AS
Wilcox
L
L
D002648:Child; D003352:Corynebacterium / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003354:Corynebacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004165:Diphtheria / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014774:Virulence