A first case of isolation of Kerstersia gyiorum from urinary tract

Abstract

An 82-year-old man with percutaneous nephrostomy presented to our Hospital with dysuria for one day. The patient's percutaneous nephrostomy tube was exchanged, with about 20 mL of creamy purulent urine being collected. Direct smear of the urine specimen showed polymorphonuclear leukocytes and small Gram-negative bacilli, some of which had undergone phagocytosis. This organism was identified as Kerstersia gyiorum using 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis. He was successfully recovered with exchange of his percutaneous nephrostomy tube and fluoroquinolone internal use treatment. This is the first case report of urinary tract infection due to K. gyiorum.

Introduction

In 2003, the novel genus Kerstersia gyiorum was first described after being isolated from clinical specimens, including leg wounds (gyiorum was named after Greek word for “limb”), sputum, and stool, with confirmation by cellular fatty acid analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing [1]. This microorganism is related to the genera Alcaligenes, Bordetella, Achromobacter, and Pigmentiphaga and belongs to the family Alcaligenaceae. Since the first report, 7 other cases of K. gyiorum infection and one case of infection with a related species (Kerstersia similis) have been documented in the literature [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], but none of these patients had urinary tract infection. Here, we report the first case of urinary tract infection due to K. gyiorum.