Actinobaculum schaalii, a Common Uropathogen in Elderly Patients, Denmark
Actinobaculum schaalii can cause urinary tract infections and septicemia but is difficult to identify by cultivation. To obtain a fast diagnosis and identify A. schaalii, we developed a TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR. Routine urine samples were obtained from 177 hospitalized patients and 75 outpa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2010-01-01
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| Series: | Emerging Infectious Diseases |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/1/09-0761_article |
| Summary: | Actinobaculum schaalii can cause urinary tract infections and septicemia but is difficult to identify by cultivation. To obtain a fast diagnosis and identify A. schaalii, we developed a TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR. Routine urine samples were obtained from 177 hospitalized patients and 75 outpatients in Viborg County, Denmark, in 2008–2009. The PCR detected A. schaalii in 22% of samples from patients >60 years of age. This assay showed that A. schaalii is more common than implied by routine cultivation. In 90% of PCR-positive urine samples, other common uropathogens were identified. This finding suggests that A. schaalii is a common, undetected, bacterial pathogen. Our results suggest that A. schaalii may be a more common pathogen than previously thought, especially in patients with unexplained chronic urinary tract infections, who are often treated with trimethoprim or ciprofloxacin, to which A. schaalii is resistant. |
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| ISSN: | 1080-6040 1080-6059 |