A case of Kerstersia gyiorum detected in a chronic skin lesion on the lower extremity

Abstract

The patient was a 70-year-old man who was transferred to our hospital by his local physician due to severe sepsis arising from a chronic skin lesion on the lower extremity. Sepsis resolved following aggressive wound treatment and administration of antibiotics. Kerstersia gyiorum (K. gyiorum) was later detected from wound cultures. Progress in the classification and identification of bacteria by 16S rRNA(16S ribosomal RNA) analysis led to the classification of K. gyiorum as a bacterium in 2003, but the number of reported cases remains limited. The difficulty of identifying K. gyiorum is cited as one reason for this lack of reports. In the present case, the bacterium was identified by MALDI-TOF MS (matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry). Now that analysis is possible at medical facilities due to advances in testing equipment, bacteria that were previously difficult to identify can be relatively easily identified. An increase in the number of cases of identified bacteria that were previously reported only infrequently and that we were previously unaccustomed to hearing about, such as in the present case, is easily conceivable going forward. Further accumulation of cases and knowledge of treatment are anticipated.