Corynebacterium Xerosis Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Infection in an Infant

The genus Corynebacterium is composed of a wide variety of Gram-positive, non-acid-fast, nonmotile, rod-shaped, catalase-positive bacteria. The bulk of the species is considered to be normal cutaneous, pharyngeal and gastrointestinal flora of humans.1Corynebacterium diphtheriae is recognized as an obligate human pathogen but several normally avirulent diphtheroids such as Corynebacterium jeikeium, striatum, xerosis, minutissimum and pseudodiphtheriticum have been shown to cause a variety of infectious diseases in humans.2Corynebacterium xerosis has been reported as a rare but serious cause of bacteremia, septicemia, pneumonia, septic arthritis, vertebral osteomyelitis, meningitis and, most commonly, endocarditis in adults.3–13 It has also been isolated from wounds including amputation sites, from an arterial-venous shunt and from an implanted vascular catheter.4, 14 To our knowledge we describe the first case of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection caused by C. xerosis. In addition we provide a review of the current literature concerning invasive disease produced by this organism.