Tox-positive Corynebacterium ulcerans in hedgehogs, Germany

Anja Berger; Alexandra Dangel; Martin Peters; Kristin Mühldorfer; Silke Braune; Tobias Eisenberg; Claudia A Szentiks; Jörg Rau; Regina Konrad; Stefan Hörmansdorfer; Nikolaus Ackermann; Andreas Sing

doi:10.1080/22221751.2018.1562312

Tox-positive Corynebacterium ulcerans in hedgehogs, Germany

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2019;8(1):211-217. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2018.1562312.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ a National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria , Oberschleißheim , Germany.
² b MA DTM&H, National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria , Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority , Oberschleißheim , Germany.
³ c Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Westfalen , Arnsberg , Germany.
⁴ d Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research , Berlin , Germany.
⁵ e Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety , Food and Veterinary Institute , Hannover , Germany.
⁶ f Hessian State Laboratory (LHL) , Gießen , Germany.
⁷ g Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart , Fellbach , Germany.

Abstract

Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans may cause both respiratory and cutaneous diphtheria in humans. As a zoonotic emerging pathogen it has been isolated from a wide variety of animals living in captivity, such as livestock, pet, zoo and research animals and additionally in a large number of different wild animals. Here we report the isolation of tox-positive C. ulcerans in four hedgehogs with cutaneous diphtheria and pneumonia, respectively.

Keywords: Germany; Tox-positive; hedgehogs; ulcerans.

MeSH terms

Animals
Animals, Wild / microbiology
Corynebacterium / classification*
Corynebacterium / genetics
Corynebacterium / isolation & purification
Corynebacterium Infections / diagnosis*
Corynebacterium Infections / drug therapy
Diphtheria / microbiology
Diphtheria / veterinary
Diphtheria Toxin / genetics
Germany
Hedgehogs / microbiology*
Male
Phylogeny
Pneumonia / microbiology
Pneumonia / veterinary

Substances

Diphtheria Toxin

Grants and funding

The study was partly supported by the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care as well as by the German Federal Ministry of Health via the Robert Koch-Institute and its National Reference Laboratories Network (09-47, FKZ 1369-359). The work was done as part of our involvement in the European Study Group of Public Health Microbiology (ESGPHM) of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID).