Concomitant Liver and Brain Abscesses Caused by Parvimonas Micra / 대한소화기학회지

Anaerobic infections have been reported to be responsible for 3–10% of pyogenic liver abscesses in Korea, and reported anaerobes include Fusobacterium, Bacillus fragilis, and Bacteroides melaninogenicus. Parvimonas micra is an anaerobic, Gram-positive, non-spore-forming bacterial species and a constituent of normal flora on skin, vagina, gastrointestinal tract, and oral cavity that can cause opportunistic infections. However, it has only rarely been reported to be a cause of liver abscess; only one such case has been reported in Korea. We experienced a case of concomitant liver and brain abscesses caused by Parvimonas micra in a non-immunodeficient 65-year-old female patient without diabetes or periodontal disease. Parvimonas micra infection was confirmed by blood culture using VITEK® 2 cards and by bacterial 16s ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. We conclude that we should not overlook anaerobes as a cause of liver abscess.

A Case of Brain Abscess due to Parvimonas micra / 대한임상미생물학회지

Parvimonas micra is a non-spore-forming anaerobic gram-positive coccus, widely distributed as normal flora in the skin, vagina and mucosa, and able to cause opportunistic infections, particularly endocarditis and brain abscess following dental manipulations. A 49-year-old woman was hospitalized due to fever and headache. She had been diagnosed with periodontitis at the beginning of fever. A brain abscess was noted in the right temporal lobe on the brain CT, and she was treated with ceftriaxone, isepamicin and metronidazole. In the next day, abscess was aspirated and drained by a surgical procedure. An organism was isolated from an anaerobic culture of the abscess aspirate, and was identified as P. micra by a commercial kit and 16S rRNA sequencing.

16S rRNA region based PCR protocol for identification and subtyping of Parvimonas micra / PCR baseada na região 16S rRNA para identificação e genotipagem de Parvimonas micra

The present study established a PCR protocol in order to identify Parvimonas micra and to evaluate the intra-species diversity by PCR-RFLP of 16S rRNA partial sequence. The data indicated that the protocol was able to identify this species which could be clustered in five genotypes.

O presente estudo estabeleceu um protocolo de PCR com a finalidade de identificar a espécie Parvimonas micra e avaliar a diversidade intra-espécie utilizando a técnica PCR-RFLP do gene que codifica o rRNA 16S. Os dados indicaram que o protocolo possibilitou a identificação da espécie e a distinção de 5 grupos genotípicos.