Clostridium innocuum: Microbiological and clinical characteristics of a potential emerging pathogen

Anaerobe. 2021 Jul 28:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2021.102418. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTClostridium innocuum is an anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium identified by Smith and King in 1962 after being isolated from a patient with an appendiceal abscess. Its name, C. innocuum, reflected its clinically "innocuous" nature based on observed lack of virulence in animal models of infection. Since that time, C. innocuum has been identified as both part of the normal intestinal flora and the cause of a rare, intrinsically vancomycin-resistant opportunistic infection in immunocompromised patients. More recently, reports from Taiwan suggest that C. innocuum, in addition to being a known extraintestinal pathogen, may also be a diarrheal pathogen that causes a C. difficile infection-like antibiotic-associated diarrheal illness. However, unanswered questions about the clinical relevance of C. innocuum remain. Here we review the microbiological and clinical characteristics of this emerging pathogen.PMID:34332070 | DOI:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2021.102418
Source: Anaerobe - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research