Corynebacterium jeikeium-induced infective endocarditis and perivalvular abscess diagnosed by 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis: A case report.

Corynebacterium jeikeium normally presents on human skin, and it is often judged as contamination when it is cultured from blood. C. jeikeium can cause infective endocarditis, especially, that associated with cardiac surgery and prosthetic valvular endocarditis. A 66-year-old Japanese male patient was diagnosed with C. jeikeium-induced infective endocarditis (IE) and perivalvular abscess after a coronary artery bypass grafting and aortic valve replacement with bioprosthesis; pyogenic spondylodiscitis was also observed. Patch repair for aortic valve annulus and re-Bentall procedure with bioprosthesis was performed for IE and perivalvular abscess. The causative bacterium was confirmed as C. jeikeium on 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing of surgical sample and positive blood culture. The patient underwent six weeks of intravenous antibacterial treatment with vancomycin and an additional two weeks of oral treatment with linezolid, following which, his condition improved. Corynebacterium jeikeium can cause infective endocarditis and perivalvular abscess, which is a more severe condition than IE. 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing is useful in diagnosing bacterial species that can cause contamination, such as Corynebacterium spp.

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Copyright © 2021 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Declaration of competing interest None.