Elsevier

Journal of Infection

Volume 51, Issue 2, August 2005, Pages E11-E13
Journal of Infection

Case Report
Fatal Kytococcus schroeteri bacteremic pneumonia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2004.06.013Get rights and content

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Case report

A 71-year-old woman was referred to our medical ICU with severe respiratory distress. She had a history of mild hypertension and frequent shortness of breath triggered by various irritants or infections. Asthma had been diagnosed more than 30 years earlier, and she had been receiving maintenance therapy with 20 mg/d prednisone for 2 years. She had also received numerous courses of antibiotics in recent years. On arrival in the emergency department, her temperature was 37.5 °C, her blood pressure

Discussion

The genus Kytococcus contains two species: Kytococcus sedentarius (formerly known as Micrococcus sedentarius)1 and the newly described Kytococcus schroeteri.3 These Gram-positive cocci are common inhabitants of human skin and are considered harmless commensals. In contrast to staphylococci, they are resistant to lysostaphin and nitrofurantoin. In addition to biochemical and chemotaxonomic differences, kytococcal species can be distinguished from other members of the former Micrococcus genus by

Acknowledgements

We thank David Young for editing the manuscript.

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