Emergence of Non- Diphtheritic Corynebacterium as a Co- Pathogen in Various Clinical Specimens in Cancer Patients

Abstract

Corynebacterium other than C. diphtheria are referred to as non-diphtheritic Corynebacteria “diphtheroids” which have garnered medical interest due to an evolving number of publications referring to community-acquired and nosocomial infections. Non-diphtheria Corynebacteria (NDC) species cause disease in risk populations such as immunocompromised patients and those with implanted medical devices. This study was performed, to find out the prevalence of NDC species among cancer patients and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility. Clinical specimens like sputum, pus, exudates, bronco-alveolar aspirates, urine and blood were collected by standard methods with aseptic precautions. Sputum along with other respiratory secretions (54%) and pus (33%) were the most prominent samples presenting diphtheroids as pathogenically significant isolates. Blood (5%), fluids and other exudates (7%) and urine (1%) were other specimens from which diphtheroids were isolated. The incidence of infections caused by bacteria among cancer patients in our study was estimated to be 17.9%. Among the infected individuals, 59% and 41% were male and female patients respectively with overwhelming incidence among elderly patients (>90%). Corynebacterium pseudodiphthereticum was isolated from 47% of the specimens. There was an alarming state of resistance among the isolates. Most of the tested antibiotics showed poor effectiveness except imipenem (100% susceptibility), linezolid (100% susceptibility) and tigecycline (100% susceptibility). The isolates were also found capable of forming biofilms.

Keywords

• Non- diphtheritic corynebaterium
• Biofilm
• Cancer patients
• Antibiotic resistance