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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians 2023; 15(01): 097-105
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1757412
Original Article

Emerging Bacterial Pathogens in the COVID-19 Era: Chryseobacterium gleum—A Case in Point

Archana Angrup   *
1   Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Bhawna Sharma    *
1   Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Inderpaul Singh Sehgal 
2   Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Manisha Biswal
1   Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Pallab Ray
1   Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
› Author Affiliations
Funding None.
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Abstract

Introduction In the ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic, a long hospital stay and empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics make the patients prone to acquire nosocomial infections especially with unconventional organisms, and Chryseobacterium gleum is one such rare nosocomial pathogen.

Methods The given study is a case-series-based study conducted from September 2020 to April 2021 in which clinically suspected pneumonia patients who recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were included.

Results Seventeen C. gleum isolates were obtained in pure culture from the tracheal aspirates of nine COVID-19 patients (including repeat samples to rule out colonization) within a period of eight months (September 2020–April 2021). Our records showed that there has been an increase in the number of isolates of C. gleum obtained in respiratory samples in 2020. We also did a review of literature of all the cases of C. gleum pneumonia reported till now.

Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the isolation of this rare pathogen from COVID-19 patients with clinical significance in a large cohort of patients. Therefore, it becomes important to consider this pathogen as a significant cause of respiratory infections, especially in patients recovered post COVID-19.

Keywords

emerging - bacterial - COVID-19 - Chryseobacterium gleum - pneumonia

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Institute Ethics Committee with reference no. NK/6623/Study/057.


* Archana Angrup and Bhawna Sharma are co-first authors.




Publication History

Article published online:
26 October 2022

© 2022. The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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