RESEARCH ARTICLE


Aerococcus christensenii as Part of Severe Polymicrobial Chorioamnionitis in a Pregnant Woman



Catrine Carlstein1, Lillian Marie Søes2, Jens Jørgen Christensen2, *
1 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Næstved Hospital, Ringstedgade 61, 4700 Næstved, Denmark
2 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Slagelse Hospital, Ingemannsvej 18, 4200 Slagelse, Denmark


Article Metrics

CrossRef Citations:
8
Total Statistics:

Full-Text HTML Views: 5844
Abstract HTML Views: 2974
PDF Downloads: 848
ePub Downloads: 673
Total Views/Downloads: 10339
Unique Statistics:

Full-Text HTML Views: 2658
Abstract HTML Views: 1572
PDF Downloads: 569
ePub Downloads: 463
Total Views/Downloads: 5262



Creative Commons License
© Carlstein et al. ; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Slagelse Hospital, Ingemannsvej 18, 4200 Slagelse, Denmark; Tel: +45 58 55 94 04; E-mail: jejc@regionsjaelland.dk


Abstract

Chorioamnionitis is a potentially life threatening infection of the fetal membranes, commonly caused by ascending bacteria from the vagina and cervix. In our case, a healthy nullipara with a term pregnancy presented clinical signs of infection after induced labour with an intracervical balloon. Thick green and foul smelling amniotic fluid was observed and culture showed massive growth of Aerococcus christensenii, a facultative anaerob species found in the human vagina, previously only rarely alleged to cause invasive infection. Additional testing with 16S rRNA gene analysis also identified the presence of Gemella asaccharolytica, Snethia sanguinegens, Parvimonas micra and Streptobacillus moniliformis. The patient was treated with cefuroxime and metronidazole and recovered quickly. The newborn showed no signs of infection. This case points at the possible role of these pathogens in female genital tract infections. The case also underlines the importance of the combination of culture and culture independent diagnostic approaches to reveal possible polymicrobial natures of selected infections, in this case chorioamnionitis.

Keywords: Aerococcus christensenii, gemella assacharolytica, parvimonas micra, polymicrobial chorioamnionitis, pregnancy, snethia sanguinegens, streptobacillus moniliformis.