부산대학교 도서관

ABSTRACTOerskovia turbatais an unusual bacterial cause of endocarditis and septicemia in immunocompromised patients. In this study, we compared 12 isolates from a 1975 medical center cluster, 11 originally identified as O. turbata(four from the blood of a homograft aortic valve-associated endocarditis patient and seven from contaminated homograft valves) and one CDC group A-3 strain from the blood of a second endocarditis patient with fatal outcome, with eight control strains from unrelated locations. The control strains included type and reference strains of O. turbata, Cellulomonas hominis, and CDC group A-3. The four blood isolates from the first patient and six of the valve isolates shared identical biochemical, antimicrobial susceptibility, and BglI ribotype patterns that differed from the second patient's isolate and control strains. The blood isolate from the second patient and the remaining valve isolate shared a phenotypic and genotypic profile and were phenotypically identical to, but epidemiologically different from, the CDC group A-3 reference strain with the strain-specific enzyme. Also, these isolates differed from the type strain and the other reference strains of C. hominisand O. turbata. Our results indicate that the four blood isolates from the first patient and six of the homograft valve isolates represent a single clone of O. turbataassociated with endocarditis. Additionally, our results indicate that the blood isolate from the second patient and one of the homograft valve isolates differ from O. turbataand C. hominisand represent a unique clone of CDC group A-3 associated with fatal endocarditis.