Department of Microbiology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2023 Sep 18;109(5):1113-1117. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.23-0377. Print 2023 Nov 1.
Kocuria species are normal commensals of the skin that have been found in various environmental niches and are usually considered nonpathogenic. However, according to recent literature, Kocuria spp. have been associated with human infections. Kocuria palustris is an emerging opportunistic pathogen with great potential to cause disease in immunocompromised patients. The isolation and identification of this pathogen is necessary, as timely treatment with the appropriate antibiotics can help in reducing mortality among these patients. We present three cases of bacteremia in immunocompromised patients admitted to our hospital; one patient was receiving chemotherapy for gall bladder carcinoma, the second was on maintenance hemodialysis for chronic kidney disease, and the third was receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia. All three patients presented with a fever in the setting of neutropenia during the course of treatment with chemotherapy (in Cases 1 and 3) or hemodialysis (in Case 2). The blood culture samples of all the patients had pure isolates of Kocuria species K. palustris, which was identified by matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation- time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS). All three patients presented with febrile neutropenia during the course of treatment with chemotherapy (in Cases 1 and 3) or hemodialysis (in Case 2).
科库利亚物种是皮肤的正常共生菌，已在各种环境小生境中发现，通常被认为是非致病性的。然而，根据最近的文献，科库利亚属与人类感染有关。沼泽科库利亚菌是一种新兴的机会性病原体，有很大的致病潜力，特别是在免疫功能低下的患者中。这种病原体的分离和鉴定是必要的，因为及时使用适当的抗生素治疗可以帮助降低这些患者的死亡率。我们报告了三例免疫功能低下患者的菌血症，一例患者正在接受胆囊癌化疗，另一例正在接受慢性肾脏病维持性血液透析，第三例正在接受急性髓细胞性白血病化疗。所有三名患者在化疗（病例 1 和 3）或血液透析（病例 2）期间出现中性粒细胞减少性发热。所有患者的血培养样本均为纯科库利亚属沼泽科库利亚菌分离株，通过基质辅助激光解吸电离-飞行时间质谱（MALDI-ToF MS）鉴定。所有三名患者在化疗（病例 1 和 3）或血液透析（病例 2）期间均出现发热性中性粒细胞减少症。
