Isolation of Carnobacterium from hand triturated with a “carne” (meat) grinder. Case report

Abstract

Abstract Background: Lactic acid bacteria are microorganisms associated with mucosal surface, present in food-related habitats including plant, wine, milk and meat environments. In humans, there is no evidence that Carnobacteria belongs to the intestinal microbiota, traditionally not considered pathogenic and the disease spectrum of Carnobacterium spp., remains unknown. Case presentation: A 25-year-old male, was admitted to the emergency room for traumatic transmetacarpal amputation of his left hand caused by a meat grinder. In tissue samples obtained from surgery Carnobacterium divergens was isolated. He was treated with piperacillin-tazobactam (TZP) and was switched to amoxicillin-clavulanate for five more days with clinical success. Conclusions: Carnobacterium classically is not considered pathogenic to humans and the disease spectrum of Carnobacterium spp., remains unknown, in previous cases the described outcome is good. The misidentification showed that conventional identification methods are not accurate; thus, the use of molecular biology and mass spectrometry techniques offers many advantages over conventional microbiological and molecular techniques.