Cellulosimicrobium Infections in Humans—A Narrative Review

TL;DR

This review summarizes human infections caused by Cellulosimicrobium bacteria, highlighting infection types, treatment, and outcomes.

Contribution

The study compiles and analyzes all reported cases of Cellulosimicrobium infections to date.

Findings

Cellulosimicrobium infections commonly include bacteremia and infective endocarditis.

Vancomycin is frequently used and effective against these infections.

Bacteremia and infective endocarditis have higher mortality rates compared to other infection types.

Abstract

Cellulosimicrobium species (formerly known as Oerskovia) are Gram-positive filamentous bacteria in the family Promicromonosporaceae and are more commonly found in sewage and soil. The present study aimed to identify all the published cases of Cellulosimicrobium species infections in the literature, describe the epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological characteristics, and provide data regarding its antimicrobial resistance, treatment, and outcomes. A narrative review was performed based on a PubMed and Scopus database search. In total, 38 studies provided data on 40 patients with infections by these species. The median age of patients was 52.5 years, and 55% were male. The most common infection types were bacteremia, infective endocarditis (IE), osteoarticular infections, peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis, and endophthalmitis. Antimicrobial resistance to vancomycin and the combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole was minimal, and vancomycin was the most commonly used antimicrobial for treating these infections. Overall mortality was minimal for all infections, except for bacteremia and IE, which carried high mortality rates.

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