Annals of Clinical Microbiology, The official Journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology
Case report

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

Yu Jung Jung, Hee Jae Huh, Chang-Seok Ki, Nam Yong Lee

Department of Laboratory Medicine and Genetics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding to Nam Yong Lee, E-mail: micro.lee@samsung.com

Ann Clin Microbiol 2014;17(3):95-98. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2014.17.3.95
Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.

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. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2014;17:95-98)

Keywords

Brevibacterium casei bacteremia, 16S rRNA sequence analysis