Retrospective review reveals significant pathogenicity of Peptococcus magnus, indicating high risk in bone, joint, and foreign-body infections.
Key Points
To assess the clinical significance, prevalence, and pathogenic potential of Peptococcus magnus isolated from clinical specimens.
Conducted a retrospective chart review of 222 patients with P. magnus isolated from anaerobic cultures over a 3.5-year surveillance period.
Categorized cases into patients without evidence of infection (n=25), polymicrobial/mixed infections (n=151), and monomicrobial/pure cultures (n=32) across distinct anatomic sites.
P. magnus was recovered from 10% of all anaerobic cultures and represented 30% of all anaerobic gram-positive cocci isolates.
Mixed infections (n=151) contained an average of 4.0 organisms (2.5 facultative and 1.5 anaerobic) across soft tissue (57 cases), bone and joint (32 cases), foot ulcers (29 cases), and abdominal sites (16 cases).
Pure culture infections (n=32) involved bones and joints in 18 cases (with foreign bodies present in 15) and soft tissue in 12 cases, presenting primarily as chronic infections with serious sequelae.
Cite This Study
Anne–Marie Bourgault (1980) studied this question.