Background: Corynebacterium urealyticum is a pathogen mainly isolated from the urinary tract and seldom from the blood. We present two cases of bacteremia caused by multiresistant C. urealyticum isolated in two and three blood cultures respectively.
Patients and methods: The two cases were studied. C. urealyticum was isolated from blood cultures and clinical charts were reviewed retrospectively. No history of prior antibiotic therapy was observed in either patient. Blood cultures were processed using BACTEC NC 730 system (Becton Dickinson). The API Coryne system (BioMérieux) was used to identify both strains.
Results: Despite both patients having not received any antibiotic treatment, they improved clinically and microbiologically. Therefore, the episodes were considered as transitory bacteremias.
Conclusion: Although C. urealyticum is not common, we believe that it is necessary to identify any diphtheromorphic microorganism in blood, when they are clinically significant.