Infections caused by Tissierella praeacuta: A report of two cases and literature review

Infectious Thrombophlebitis of the Left Internal Jugular Vein With Tissierella praeacuta Isolation in a 71-Year-Old Female: A Case Report

Tissierella praeacuta, a rare pathogen, was found in a 71-year-old female's internal jugular vein thrombus stemming from sphenoid sinusitis. She presented with lower-extremity weakness, and imaging revealed the thrombus. Subsequent intraoperative cultures identified T. praeacuta. Treatment encompassed intravenous antibiotics and anticoagulation. This case underscores the need to consider unusual pathogens in sinusitis-related thrombosis. To the authors' knowledge, this report is the first documented case of T. praeacuta isolated in sinusitis leading to infectious thrombophlebitis, and it adds to the scarce literature on T. praeacuta infections, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach for such complex cases.

Characterising the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) pouch microbiome in lactating and non-lactating females

Wildlife harbour a diverse range of microorganisms that affect their health and development. Marsupials are born immunologically naïve and physiologically underdeveloped, with primary development occurring inside a pouch. Secretion of immunological compounds and antimicrobial peptides in the epithelial lining of the female's pouch, pouch young skin, and through the milk, are thought to boost the neonate's immune system and potentially alter the pouch skin microbiome. Here, using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we characterised the Tasmanian devil pouch skin microbiome from 25 lactating and 30 non-lactating wild females to describe and compare across these reproductive stages. We found that the lactating pouch skin microbiome had significantly lower amplicon sequence variant richness and diversity than non-lactating pouches, however there was no overall dissimilarity in community structure between lactating and non-lactating pouches. The top five phyla were found to be consistent between both reproductive stages, with over 85% of the microbiome being comprised of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, and Bacteroidota. The most abundant taxa remained consistent across all taxonomic ranks between lactating and non-lactating pouch types. This suggests that any potential immunological compounds or antimicrobial peptide secretions did not significantly influence the main community members. Of the more than 16,000 total identified amplicon sequence variants, 25 were recognised as differentially abundant between lactating and non-lactating pouches. It is proposed that the secretion of antimicrobial peptides in the pouch act to modulate these microbial communities. This study identifies candidate bacterial clades on which to test the activity of Tasmanian devil antimicrobial peptides and their role in pouch young protection, which in turn may lead to future therapeutic development for human diseases.

Tissierella praeacuta Bacteremia Associated With Acute on Chronic Osteomyelitis: A Case Report

Tissierella praeacuta is a rare gram-variable bacillus that naturally occurs in the environment and is pathogenic in humans with chronic infections. We report the case of a 45-year-old man with a history of chronic osteomyelitis of the left tibia and recurrent bacteremia secondary to intravenous drug use (IVDU). He had previously received multiple partially completed courses of antibiotics over the past one year. Blood cultures demonstrated polymicrobial infection, including T. praeacuta and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus managed with parenteral beta-lactams, and the subsequent first surveillance cultures remained sterile. Medical literature on human infections with T. praeacuta is limited due to its rare occurrence. Most cases have reported sensitivity to beta-lactam antibiotics, making them an antibiotic of choice. T. praeacuta infections should prompt a search for additional underlying infectious foci and treatment of any additional co-infecting microbes.

Weighted gene coexpression network analysis and machine learning reveal oncogenome associated microbiome plays an important role in tumor immunity and prognosis in pan-cancer

BACKGROUND

For many years, the role of the microbiome in tumor progression, particularly the tumor microbiome, was largely overlooked. The connection between the tumor microbiome and the tumor genome still requires further investigation.

METHODS

The TCGA microbiome and genome data were obtained from Haziza et al.'s article and UCSC Xena database, respectively. Separate WGCNA networks were constructed for the tumor microbiome and genomic data after filtering the datasets. Correlation analysis between the microbial and mRNA modules was conducted to identify oncogenome associated microbiome module (OAM) modules, with three microbial modules selected for each tumor type. Reactome analysis was used to enrich biological processes. Machine learning techniques were implemented to explore the tumor type-specific enrichment and prognostic value of OAM, as well as the ability of the tumor microbiome to differentiate TP53 mutations.

RESULTS

We constructed a total of 182 tumor microbiome and 570 mRNA WGCNA modules. Our results show that there is a correlation between tumor microbiome and tumor genome. Gene enrichment analysis results suggest that the genes in the mRNA module with the highest correlation with the tumor microbiome group are mainly enriched in infection, transcriptional regulation by TP53 and antigen presentation. The correlation analysis of OAM with CD8+ T cells or TAM1 cells suggests the existence of many microbiota that may be involved in tumor immune suppression or promotion, such as Williamsia in breast cancer, Biostraticola in stomach cancer, Megasphaera in cervical cancer and Lottiidibacillus in ovarian cancer. In addition, the results show that the microbiome-genome prognostic model has good predictive value for short-term prognosis. The analysis of tumor TP53 mutations shows that tumor microbiota has a certain ability to distinguish TP53 mutations, with an AUROC value of 0.755. The tumor microbiota with high importance scores are Corallococcus, Bacillus and Saezia. Finally, we identified a potential anti-cancer microbiota, Tissierella, which has been shown to be associated with improved prognosis in tumors including breast cancer, lung adenocarcinoma and gastric cancer.

CONCLUSION

There is an association between the tumor microbiome and the tumor genome, and the existence of this association is not accidental and could change the landscape of tumor research.

A Rare Case of Septic Ovarian Thrombophlebitis Caused by Tissierella praeacuta

We report a case of Tissierella praeacuta bacteremia and septic thrombophlebitis of the ovarian vein as a rare puerperal complication in a young patient. She was successfully managed with subcutaneous low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and intravenous (IV) antibiotics before transitioning to a prolonged course of oral antibiotics at discharge.

Characterization of rumen, fecal, and milk microbiota in lactating dairy cows

Targeting the gastrointestinal microbiome for improvement of feed efficiency and reduction of production costs is a potential promising strategy. However little progress has been made in manipulation of the gut microbiomes in dairy cattle to improve milk yield and milk quality. Even less understood is the milk microbiome. Understanding the milk microbiome may provide insight into how the microbiota correlate with milk yield and milk quality. The objective of this study was to characterize similarities between rumen, fecal, and milk microbiota simultaneously, and to investigate associations between microbiota, milk somatic cell count (SCC), and milk yield. A total of 51 mid-lactation, multiparous Holstein dairy cattle were chosen for sampling of ruminal, fecal, and milk contents that were processed for microbial DNA extraction and sequencing. Cows were categorized based on low, medium, and high SCC; as well as low, medium, and high milk yield. Beta diversity indicated that ruminal, fecal, and milk populations were distinct (p < 0.001). Additionally, the Shannon index demonstrated that ruminal microbial populations were more diverse (p < 0.05) than were fecal and milk populations, and milk microbiota was the least diverse of all sample types (p < 0.001). While diversity indices were not linked (p > 0.1) with milk yield, milk microbial populations from cows with low SCC demonstrated a more evenly distributed microbiome in comparison to cows with high SCC values (p = 0.053). These data demonstrate the complexity of host microbiomes both in the gut and mammary gland. Further, we conclude that there is a significant relationship between mammary health (i.e., SCC) and the milk microbiome. Whether this microbiome could be utilized in efforts to protect the mammary gland remains unclear, but should be explored in future studies.

Tissiarella praeacuta bacteremia, a rare complication of osteomyelitis

Tissierella praeacuta, also known as Clostridium hastiforme is an anaerobic gram negative bacteria, first isolated in 1908, by P.H. Tissier. To date, there are currently six documented cases of this environmental organism causing infection in humans. Here, we present a patient who was admitted to hospital with osteomyelitis of his right calcaneus, found to subsequently have T. praeacuta bacteremia isolated from anaerobic blood cultures. During his inpatient course, he was treated with IV vancomycin, cefepime, and metronidazole in addition to surgical debridement of his foot wound. The patient was discharged on a course of oral Levofloxacin and Amoxicillin-Clavulanate with significant clinical improvement.

The applicability of forensic time since death estimation methods for buried bodies in advanced decomposition stages

Estimation of the postmortem interval in advanced postmortem stages is a challenging task. Although there are several approaches available for addressing postmortem changes of a (human) body or its environment (ecologically and/or biochemically), most are restricted to specific timeframes and/or individual and environmental conditions. It is well known, for instance, that buried bodies decompose in a remarkably different manner than on the ground surface. However, data on how established methods for PMI estimation perform under these conditions are scarce. It is important to understand whether and how postmortem changes are affected under burial conditions, if corrective factors could be conceived, or if methods have to be excluded for respective cases. We present the first multi-methodological assessment of human postmortem decomposition carried out on buried body donors in Europe, at the Amsterdam Research Initiative for Sub-surface Taphonomy and Anthropology (ARISTA) in the Netherlands. We used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate postmortem changes of morphology, skeletal muscle protein decomposition, presence of insects and other necrophilous animals as well as microbial communities (i.e., microbiomes) from August to November 2018 associated with two complete body exhumations and eight partial exhumations. Our results clearly display the current possibilities and limitations of methods for PMI estimation in buried remains and provide a baseline for future research and application.

Relevance of anaerobic bacteremia in adult patients: A never-ending story?

Obligate anaerobic bacteria are considered important constituents of the microbiota of humans; in addition, they are also important etiological agents in some focal or invasive infections and bacteremia with a high level of mortality. Conflicting data have accumulated over the last decades regarding the extent in which these pathogens play an intrinsic role in bloodstream infections. Clinical characteristics of anaerobic bloodstream infections do not differ from bacteremia caused by other pathogens, but due to their longer generation time and rigorous growth requirements, it usually takes longer to establish the etiological diagnosis. The introduction of matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has represented a technological revolution in microbiological diagnostics, which has allowed for the fast, accurate and reliable identification of anaerobic bacteria at a low sample cost. The purpose of this review article is to summarize the currently available literature data on the prevalence of anaerobic bacteremia in adults for physicians and clinical microbiologists and to shed some light on the complexity of this topic nowadays.

An update on the routine application of MALDI-TOF MS in clinical microbiology

Introduction: Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has entered clinical diagnostics and is today a generally accepted and integral part of the workflow for microbial identification. MALDI-TOF MS identification systems received approval from national and international institutions, such as the USA-FDA, and are continuously improved and adopted to other fields like veterinary and industrial microbiology. The question is whether MALDI-TOF MS also has the potential to replace other conventional and molecular techniques operated in routine diagnostic laboratories. Areas covered: We give an overview of new advancements of mass spectral analysis in the context of microbial diagnostics. In particular, the expansion of databases to increase the range of readily identifiable bacteria and fungi, the refined discrimination of species complexes, subspecies, and types, the testing for antibiotic resistance or susceptibility, progress in sample preparation including automation, and applications of other mass spectrometry techniques are discussed. Expert opinion: Although many new approaches of MALDI-TOF MS are still in the stage of proof of principle, it is expectable that MALDI-TOF MS will expand its role in the clinical microbiology laboratory of the future. New databases, instruments and analytical software modules will continue to be developed to further improve diagnostic efficacy.

Isolation, characterization, and genome insights into an anaerobic sulfidogenic Tissierella bacterium from Cu-bearing coins

Recent reports on antimicrobial effects of metallic Cu prompted this study of anaerobic microbial communities on copper surfaces. Widely circulating copper-containing coinage was used as a potential source for microorganisms that had had human contact and were tolerant to copper. This study reports on the isolation, characterization, and genome of an anaerobic sulfidogenic Tissierella sp. P1from copper-containing brass coinage. Dissimilatory (bi)sulfite reductase dsrAB present in strain P1 genome and the visible absorbance around 630 nm in the cells suggested the presence of a desulfoviridin-type protein. However, the sulfate reduction rate measurements with ³⁵SO₄^2- did not confirm the dissimilatory sulfate reduction by the strain. The P1 genome lacks APS reductase, sulfate adenylyltransferase, DsrC, and DsrMK necessary for dissimilatory sulfate reduction. The isolate produced up to 0.79 mM H₂S during growth, possibly due to cysteine synthase (CysK) and/or cysteine desulfhydrase (CdsH) activities, encoded in the genome. The strain can tolerate up to 2.4 mM Cu²⁺(150 mg/l) in liquid medium, shows affinity to metallic copper, and can survive on copper-containing coins up to three days under ambient air and dry conditions. The genome sequence of strain P1 contained cutC, encoding a copper resistance protein, which distinguishes it from all other Tissierella strains with published genomes.

Clostridium hastiforme bacteraemia secondary to pyometra in a 64-year-old woman

The Gram-negative, rod-shaped, anaerobe bacteria Tissierella praeacuta was first described in 1908 by Tissier. However, during the past decade, Clostridium hastiforme has been recognised as a later synonym of T. praeacuta. C. hastiforme/T. praeacuta has only rarely been described in previous literature as a cause of human infection. We present here a case report of C. hastiforme/T. praeacuta bacteraemia secondary to pyometra in a 64-year-old woman with a history of multiple sclerosis and an intrauterine device inserted three decades earlier. C. hastiforme/T. praeacuta was isolated from blood as well as pus from the site of infection. The patient was cured with a combination of drainage and antibiotic therapy.