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Corynebacterium
Aerobic
Gram-positive
Coryneform group:
-Corynebacterium+related group
-irregularly shaped
Corynebacterium
Small rod
Club-shaped
Mycolic acid in cell wall
Gram stain: short chains with V or Y
configurations
Chinese letters
Methylene blue: Metachromatic
granules
Corynebacterium
Archanobacterium
Brevbacterium
Oerskovia
Turicella
Corynebacterium diphtheriae
Facultative anaerobe
Most strains grow well on lipid-free media
Metachromatic granules with methylene blue:
not spesific For C. diphteriae
The organism do not have to enter blood
stream to produce the systemic signs. The
exotoxin is responsible for the symptoms.
Corynebacterium diphteriae
Respiratory diphteriae
Cutaneous diphteriae
Culture
Exotoxin
Tox gene
By a beta-phage (lysogenic phage)
A-B exotoxin
Inhibits protein synthesis by inactivating
elongation factor 2 (EF-2)
Toxigenicity testing
In vitro immunodiffusion assay: Elek
test
In vivo quinea pig neutralization assay
PCR test for detecting toxin gene
**nontoxigenic strains should not be
ignored because they have been
associated with significant disease
Corynebacterium Treatment
Antitoxin
Penicillin
Toxoid
Other Corynebacterium
C. jeikeium(group JK):opportunistic
pathogen in immunocompromised
patients: hematologic disorders or
intravascular catheters.
Resistant to many antibiotics
No spore
Actinomyces
Propionibacterium
Mobiluncus
Lactobacillus
Actinomyces
Actinomyces
Actinomyces
Cervicofacial
Thoracic
Abdominal
Pelvic
Aerobic actinomycetes
Nocardia
Rhodococcus
Nocardia
1.
2.
3.
4.
Nocardia
N. asteroides
Bronchopulmonary disease in
immunocompromised patient
Secondary CNS infections
Selective media
Rhodococcus
Opportunistic pathogens
Mycetoma
Tropheryma whipplii
Whipple disease arthralgia, diarrhea,
weight loss