Riegel P
Laboratoire de bactériologie, Faculté de médecine, Université Louis-Pasteur, Hôpitaux Universitaires, Strasbourg.
Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 1998 May-Jun;56(3):285-96.
The microbiologists use the term corynebacteria to describe aerobically growing, asporogenous, irregularly sharped gram-positive rods. They comprise strictly aerobic bacteria isolated from environment as well as preferentially anaerobic bacteria found in clinical specimens. A large part of these bacteria is considered as commensal of skin and mucous membranes. This group of organisms has recently been subjected to considerable taxonomic revisions, which have resulted in the proposal of several new species, many of them representing previous Centers for Diseases Control coryneform groups. Moreover, recent investigations demonstrated the existence of a pathogenic role for some of them. These bacteria comprise well-known pathogens such as C. diphtheriae responsible for diphtheria, Actinomyces spp. responsible for actinomycosis and Arcanobacterium haemolyticum recovered from pharyngitis, but other corynebacteria were related to particular infections. For example, the lipophilic and antibiotics multiresistant species Corynebacterium urealyticum and C. jeikeium were found to be responsible for urinary tract infections and septicemias, respectively. The recently described species Turicella otitidis was found to be implicated in otitis media and C. seminale were recovered from genital specimens of male patients. Implantation of material devices, use of broad-spectrum antibiotics led to an increase of sepsis due to the species C. jeikeium and C. amycolatum. Many of the new Actinomyces species grow well under aerobic conditions and are often implicated in various abscesses. Moreover an increase of immunocompromised patients led to the development of infections due to the aerobic actinomycete Rhodococcus equi. The association of some corynebacteria with particular diseases should prompt the microbiologist to identify these bacteria when they are encountered in a pathogenic situation. Identification of the major part of corynebacteria isolated from clinical specimens can now be achieved by using recent schemes.
微生物学家用“棒状杆菌”一词来描述需氧生长、无芽孢、形态不规则的革兰氏阳性杆菌。它们包括从环境中分离出的严格需氧菌以及在临床标本中发现的优先厌氧菌。这些细菌中的很大一部分被认为是皮肤和黏膜的共生菌。最近，这一类生物体经历了相当大的分类学修订，产生了几个新物种，其中许多代表了以前疾病控制中心的棒状杆菌属菌群。此外，最近的研究表明其中一些细菌具有致病作用。这些细菌包括众所周知的病原体，如导致白喉的白喉棒状杆菌、导致放线菌病的放线菌属以及从咽炎中分离出的溶血隐秘杆菌，但其他棒状杆菌与特定感染有关。例如，发现嗜脂性且多重耐药的解脲棒状杆菌和杰氏棒状杆菌分别导致尿路感染和败血症。最近描述的耳炎Turicella菌被发现与中耳炎有关，而精液棒状杆菌是从男性患者的生殖器标本中分离出来的。植入材料装置、使用广谱抗生素导致杰氏棒状杆菌和无糖棒状杆菌引起的败血症增加。许多新的放线菌物种在需氧条件下生长良好，常与各种脓肿有关。此外，免疫功能低下患者的增加导致了由需氧放线菌马红球菌引起的感染。一些棒状杆菌与特定疾病的关联应促使微生物学家在致病情况下遇到这些细菌时对其进行鉴定。现在，通过使用最新的方法可以实现从临床标本中分离出的大部分棒状杆菌的鉴定。
