Spark R P, McNeil M M, Brown J M, Lasker B A, Montano M A, Garfield M D
Department of Pathology, Tucson Medical Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine 85733.
Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1993 May;117(5):515-20.
A 24-year-old woman had fatal pneumonia-associated adult respiratory distress syndrome caused by Rhodococcus species. Histological examination of lung biopsy tissue showed intracellular coccobacillary microorganisms. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests on the patient's blood isolate showed that it was resistant to clindamycin and norfloxacin but susceptible to several other antimicrobial agents. Also, the isolate's biochemical reactions and pattern of RNA gene-containing restriction fragments were significantly different from those of the 20 recognized Rhodococcus species, suggesting that this patient's infection was caused by an as yet uncharacterized Rhodococcus species. Of the 17 human cases of nonequi Rhodococcus species infection reported to date (including the current case), nine patients were immunocompetent, five had disseminated infection, and four died. Further studies will be required to unequivocally establish the species status of this patient's Rhodococcus isolate biochemically and genetically.
一名24岁女性因红球菌属感染导致致命的肺炎相关性成人呼吸窘迫综合征。肺活检组织的组织学检查显示细胞内存在短杆菌微生物。对患者血液分离株进行的药敏试验表明，该分离株对克林霉素和诺氟沙星耐药，但对其他几种抗菌药物敏感。此外，该分离株的生化反应和含RNA基因的限制性片段模式与20种已确认的红球菌属显著不同，这表明该患者的感染是由一种尚未明确特征的红球菌属引起的。在迄今为止报告的17例非等效红球菌属感染人类病例中（包括本例），9例患者免疫功能正常，5例有播散性感染，4例死亡。需要进一步研究以通过生化和基因方法明确确定该患者红球菌分离株的菌种地位。
