TY - JOUR AU - Bittar, Fadi AU - Cassagne, Carole AU - Bosdure, Emmanuelle AU - Stremler, Nathalie AU - Dubus, Jean-Christophe AU - Sarles, Jacques AU - Reynaud-Gaubert, Martine AU - Raoult, Didier AU - Rolain, Jean-Marc T1 - Outbreak of Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum Infection in Cystic Fibrosis Patients, France T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2010 VL - 16 IS - 8 SP - 1231 SN - 1080-6059 AB - An increasing body of evidence indicates that nondiphtheria corynebacteria may be responsible for respiratory tract infections. We report an outbreak of Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum infection in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). To identify 18 C. pseudodiphtheriticum strains isolated from 13 French children with CF, we used molecular methods (partial rpoB gene sequencing) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Clinical symptoms were exhibited by 10 children (76.9%), including cough, rhinitis, and lung exacerbations. The results of MALDI-TOF identification matched perfectly with those obtained from molecular identification. Retrospective analysis of sputum specimens by using specific real-time PCR showed that ≈20% of children with CF were colonized with these bacteria, whereas children who did not have CF had negative test results. Our study reemphasizes the conclusion that correctly identifying bacteria at the species level facilitates detection of an outbreak of new or emerging infections in humans. KW - bacteria KW - Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum KW - cystic fibrosis KW - cough KW - intact cell mass spectrometry KW - children KW - respiratory infections KW - MALDI-TOF KW - France KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1608.100193 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/8/10-0193_article ER - End of Reference