Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum in genitourinary tract samples.

INTRODUCTION

Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum (C. glucuronolyticum) is a species recently recognized as a potential pathogen of the male genitourinary tract. The objective is to determine the prevalence of C. glucuronolyticum in genitourinary tract samples as well as their antimicrobial susceptibility profile.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted from 1st of November 2021 to the 30th of November 2022, for all genitourinary tract samples collected from male patients with suspicion of balanitis, prostatitis and urethritis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed in all C. glucuronolyticum isolates.

RESULTS

A total of 73 C. glucuronolyticum isolates from 693 clinical specimens were obtained. This represents an overall C. glucuronolyticum prevalence of 10.5%. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin, linezolid and rifampicin, whereas 94%, 68% and 65% were resistant to clindamycin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Clinical microbiology laboratories should perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing against C. glucuronolyticum due to the significant rate of resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline.