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BMC Infectious Diseases Mar 2022Actinomycosis is an uncommon endogenous bacterial infection caused by Actinomyces species, characterized by the development of abscesses, tissue fibrosis, and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Actinomycosis is an uncommon endogenous bacterial infection caused by Actinomyces species, characterized by the development of abscesses, tissue fibrosis, and fistulisation. It remains a diagnostic challenge, due to its similarities with diverse aetiologies' presentation, such as neoplasms, tuberculosis, or fungal infections. Actinomyces bovis is a microorganism rarely reported as a cause of human disease. Cutaneous involvement is sporadic. In this case, Actinomyces bovis was responsible for disseminated cutaneous disease in an immunosuppressed patient.
CASE PRESENTATION
We report the case of a 69-year-old female with multiple skin masses, under immunosuppressive therapy due to ulcerative colitis. Imaging exams were compatible with multiple cutaneous abscesses in the cervicofacial region and limbs. Actinomyces bovis was isolated in culture after abscess drainage. Antimicrobial therapy with parenteral penicillin G and oral amoxicillin was administered for 6 months, with complete resolution of cutaneous lesions and no relapse of the infection.
CONCLUSIONS
Considering actinomycosis as a possible diagnosis in the presence of subacute/chronic recurrent mass-like cutaneous lesions, especially in the setting of immunosuppression, may reduce the burden associated with delayed diagnosis and incorrect treatment and provide better outcomes and improvement of patient's quality of life.
Topics: Actinomyces; Actinomycosis; Aged; Female; Humans; Immunocompromised Host; Quality of Life
PubMed: 35351021
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-022-07282-w -
Journal of Bacteriology Mar 1965Pirtle, E. C. (National Animal Disease Laboratory, Ames, Iowa), P. A. Rebers, and W. W. Weigel. Nitrogen-containing and carbohydrate-containing antigen from Actinomyces...
Pirtle, E. C. (National Animal Disease Laboratory, Ames, Iowa), P. A. Rebers, and W. W. Weigel. Nitrogen-containing and carbohydrate-containing antigen from Actinomyces bovis. J. Bacteriol. 89:880-888. 1965.-Water-soluble, heat-stable antigens have been isolated from the supernatant fluids of broth cultures of Actinomyces bovis ATCC 10048 after 8 days of growth in a broth medium composed of Casamino Acids, yeast extract, Tween 80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate), sodium thioglycolate, dextrose, and sodium chloride. The antigens were precipitated from the culture supernatant fluid with alcohol and purified by fractional precipitation with alcohol in the presence of calcium or zinc and by chromatography on diethylaminoethyl Sephadex. Two serologically active substances which differed in chemical composition and size were characterized. The larger one contained 71% hexose and 2.8% nitrogen, and the smaller one contained 45% hexose and 5.4% nitrogen. Heterogeneity of these fractions could not be demonstrated by electrophoresis in free solution at pH 7.8 or 2, by ultracentrifugal analysis, by double diffusion in agar, or by immunoelectrophoresis. Despite their differences in chemical composition and size, they appeared identical in activity as antigens in complement fixation and in double-diffusion tests in agar. Each was found to contain mannose as its chief component after hydrolysis and paper chromatography with three solvent systems. A small percentage of the total nitrogen may be attributed to the presence of amino sugars but the remainder is as yet unidentified.
Topics: Acetates; Actinomyces; Amino Acids; Antigens; Chemical Phenomena; Chemistry; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical; Chromatography; Complement Fixation Tests; Electrophoresis; Ethanol; Glucose; Hexoses; Immunodiffusion; Immunoelectrophoresis; Mannose; Methanol; Nitrogen; Research
PubMed: 14273674
DOI: 10.1128/jb.89.3.880-888.1965 -
Journal of Bacteriology Oct 1963Overman, John R. (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.) and Leo Pine. Electron microscopy of cytoplasmic structures in facultative and anaerobic Actinomyces. J....
Overman, John R. (Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.) and Leo Pine. Electron microscopy of cytoplasmic structures in facultative and anaerobic Actinomyces. J. Bacteriol. 86:656-665. 1963.-Electron microscopy of cytoplasmic complexes and the cytoplasmic fine structure of Actinomyces bovis, A. israelii, A. naeslundii, and A. propionicus demonstrated marked differences among these four species. Also included in the present study was Lactobacillus bifidus, an organism closely related to the Actinomyces species. A relatively small and compact cytoplasmic membrane complex of A. propionicus was unique in its morphology. Membrane structures of A. naeslundii and A. israelii were relatively large and consisted of coils of various sizes of the cytoplasmic membrane. No membrane complexes were found in L. bifidus or A. bovis. Measurements of cell-wall thickness indicated a significant difference between A. bovis and A. israelii. On the basis of general morphology, cell-wall thickness, and cytoplasmic membrane complexes, A. bovis and A. israelii appear to be distinct species. The relation of the fine structure complexity to phylogenetic position of these organisms is considered.
Topics: Actinomyces; Cell Membrane; Cell Wall; Cytoplasm; Cytoplasmic Structures; Electrons; Lactobacillus; Microscopy; Microscopy, Electron; Phylogeny; Research
PubMed: 14066458
DOI: 10.1128/jb.86.4.656-665.1963 -
Journal of Bacteriology Aug 1957
Topics: Actinomyces; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium diphtheriae
PubMed: 13475227
DOI: 10.1128/jb.74.2.234-238.1957 -
Journal of Bacteriology Jul 1961Slack, John M. (West Virginia University, Morgantown), Ann Winger, and Dane W. Moore, Jr. Serological grouping of actinomyces by means of fluorescent antibodies. J....
Slack, John M. (West Virginia University, Morgantown), Ann Winger, and Dane W. Moore, Jr. Serological grouping of actinomyces by means of fluorescent antibodies. J. Bacteriol. 82:54-65. 1961.-Serological groups A, B, C and D of actinomyces were established using fluorescent antibody techniques. One hundred and thirty-eight cultures were included in the study. Eighty-nine were classed in group A, 15 in B, 13 in C, and 21 in D. The isolates were from patients and animals with actinomycosis and from healthy human beings. There was no correlation between source of the isolate and serological group. Furthermore, no one species could be placed exclusively in one group although the majority of those designated as Actinomyces bovis were in group A. Seventeen anaerobic diphtheroids and seven Corynebacterium acnes isolates were placed in group A. One diphtheroid was in each of groups B and D. On this basis it is suggested that these organisms be included in the genus Actinomyces.Additional species of Corynebacterium as well as Lactobacillus Propionibacterium, Streptomyces, and Nocardia did not fluoresce with any of the group antisera.
PubMed: 16561915
DOI: 10.1128/jb.82.1.54-65.1961 -
Journal of Bacteriology May 1949
Topics: Actinomyces; Humans; Penicillins; Streptomycin
PubMed: 16561728
DOI: 10.1128/jb.57.5.501-508.1949 -
Journal of Bacteriology Mar 1990Gram stains were performed on strains of Actinomyces bovis, Actinomyces viscosus, Arthrobacter globiformis, Bacillus brevis, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Clostridium...
Gram stains were performed on strains of Actinomyces bovis, Actinomyces viscosus, Arthrobacter globiformis, Bacillus brevis, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Clostridium tetani, Clostridium thermosaccharolyticum, Corynebacterium parvum, Mycobacterium phlei, and Propionibacterium acnes, using a modified Gram regimen that allowed the staining process to be observed by electron microscopy (J. A. Davies, G. K. Anderson, T. J. Beveridge, and H. C. Clark, J. Bacteriol. 156:837-845, 1983). Furthermore, since a platinum salt replaced the iodine mordant of the Gram stain, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy could evaluate the stain intensity and location by monitoring the platinum signal. These gram-variable bacteria could be split into two groups on the basis of their staining responses. In the Actinomyces-Arthrobacter-Corynebacterium-Mycobacterium-Propionibacterium group, few cells became gram negative until the exponential growth phase; by mid-exponential phase, 10 to 30% of the cells were gram negative. The cells that became gram negative were a select population of the culture, had initiated septum formation, and were more fragile to the stress of the Gram stain at the division site. As cultures aged to stationary phase, there was a relatively slight increase toward gram negativity (now 15 to 40%) due to the increased lysis of nondividing cells by means of lesions in the side walls; these cells maintained their rod shape but stained gram negative. Those in the Bacillus-Butyrivibrio-Clostridium group also became gram negative as cultures aged but by a separate set of events. These bacteria possessed more complex walls, since they were covered by an S layer. They stained gram positive during lag and the initial exponential growth phases, but as doubling times increased, the wall fabric underlying the S layer became noticeably thinner and diffuse, and the cells became more fragile to the Gram stain. By stationary phase, these cultures were virtually gram negative.
Topics: Bacillus; Bacteria; Gentian Violet; Microscopy, Electron; Mycobacterium phlei; Phenazines; Propionibacterium; Staining and Labeling
PubMed: 1689718
DOI: 10.1128/jb.172.3.1609-1620.1990 -
Journal of Bacteriology Oct 1967Comparative cell wall analyses were made of mycelial and smooth forms of Actinomyces bovis and A. israelii to determine the changes which occur in the cell wall...
Comparative cell wall analyses were made of mycelial and smooth forms of Actinomyces bovis and A. israelii to determine the changes which occur in the cell wall composition concurrent with a change in morphology, and to evaluate cell wall analyses as a criterion for taxonomic identification within the genus Actinomyces. Cell walls of the spider forms of A. boyis had little or no aspartic acid and a high hexosamine concentration; cell walls of the smooth forms had a high aspartic acid content and low concentrations of hexosamine. Both forms had large amounts of glutamic acid, alanine, and lysine, as previously reported. A strain of Actinomyces, previously identified as A. naeslundii on the basis of morphology and aerobic growth characteristics, was found to have the basic cell wall composition of A. israelii. When transferred from the Actinomyces maintenance broth to a thioglycolate broth, the cells of this strain passed from a mycelial form through a transient filamentous morphology to become diphtheroidal with continued incubation. Concomitantly, the concentrations of glutamic acid relative to alanine decreased, and the hexosamine content increased. Variation in morphology within the species A. israelii and A. bovis could not be related to any mutual chemical change of their cell walls.
Topics: Actinomyces; Amino Acids; Carbohydrates; Cell Wall; Culture Media; Hexosamines
PubMed: 6051359
DOI: 10.1128/jb.94.4.875-883.1967 -
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and... May 1951
Topics: Actinomyces; Humans; Meningitis; Penicillins; Streptomycin
PubMed: 14851000
DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.14.2.134 -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Sep 2000Two strains of a previously undescribed Actinomyces-like bacterium were recovered in pure culture from infected root canals of teeth. Analysis by biochemical testing and...
Two strains of a previously undescribed Actinomyces-like bacterium were recovered in pure culture from infected root canals of teeth. Analysis by biochemical testing and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole-cell proteins indicated that the strains closely resembled each other phenotypically but were distinct from previously described Actinomyces and Arcanobacterium species. Comparative 16S rRNA gene-sequencing studies showed the bacterium to be a hitherto unknown subline within a group of Actinomyces species which includes Actinomyces bovis, the type species of the genus. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic evidence, we propose that the unknown bacterium isolated from human clinical specimens be classified as Actinomyces radicidentis sp. nov. The type strain of Actinomyces radicidentis is CCUG 36733.
Topics: Actinomyces; Actinomycosis; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Dental Pulp Cavity; Female; Genes, Bacterial; Genes, rRNA; Humans; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Sequence Analysis, DNA
PubMed: 10970390
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.38.9.3399-3403.2000