Corynebacterium amycolatum

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Gram stain Culture

General information
- The pathogenic potential of coryneform bacteria has been underestimated
  
  Taxonomy
  Family: Corynebacteriaceae
  
  Natural habitats
  They are part of the normal skin biota.
  
  Clinical significance
  C. amycolatum is the most frequently encountered nonlipophilic Corynebacterium species in human clinical material.
  
  Urinary tract infections, bacteremia, respiratory tract and line infections
Gram stain
- Gram positive rods,
  
  irregularly shaped (‘coryneforms”), they are arranged as single cells, in pairs, in V forms, in palisades, or in clusters with
  
  a so-called Chinese-letter appearance.
  
  Club-shaped rods are observed in true members of the genus Corynebacterium only
Culture characteristics
- Facultative anaerobic
  
  BA: colonies are very typically dry, waxy, and grayish white with irregular edges and are 1 to 1.5 mm after 24 hours
  
  C. amycolatum strains are predominantly misidentified as C. xerosis, both have dry colonies and similar biochemical reactions
  
  C. amycolatum are nearly always multidrug resistant
Characteristics
References
- James Versalovic et al.(2011) Manual of Clinical Microbiology 10th Edition