ABSTRACT
We report a case of septic arthritis and osteomyelitis of the left ankle due to Actinomyces pyogenes in a diabetic farmer. Few confirmed human cases of A. pyogenes infection have been reported, partly because of inadequate identification of this bacterium. Bacteriological characteristics of the organism, which resembles Arcanobacterium haemolyticum, are described with a review of previous case reports.
Subject(s)
Ankle Joint/microbiology , Arthritis, Infectious/microbiology , Corynebacterium Infections/microbiology , Corynebacterium pyogenes/isolation & purification , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/complications , Osteomyelitis/microbiology , Animals , Animals, Domestic , Ankle Joint/pathology , Arthritis, Infectious/complications , Corynebacterium Infections/complications , Corynebacterium pyogenes/classification , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Osteomyelitis/complications , Zoonoses/microbiologyABSTRACT
Corynebacterium pyogenes (Glage) differs to such an extent from the type species of Corynebacterium, Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Lehmann and Neumann), that it cannot be retained in this genus. Numerical phenetic and chemical data indicate a close relationship between Corynebacterium pyogenes and the species Actinomyces bovis (Harz). It is proposed that Corynebacterium pyogenes be reclassified in the genus Actinomyces, as Actinomyces pyogenes (Glage) comb.nov.
