Streptococcus oriscaviae sp. nov. Infection Associated with Guinea Pigs

• Published in: Microbiology spectrum Vol. 10; no. 3; p. e0001422
• Main Authors: Teng, Jade L L, Ma, Yuanchao, Chen, Jonathan H K, Luo, Ruibang, Foo, Chuen-Hing, Li, Tsz Tuen, Fong, Jordan Y H, Yao, Weiming, Wong, Samson S Y, Fung, Kitty S C, Lau, Susanna K P, Woo, Patrick C Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 01.06.2022
• Subjects: bite wound; Clinical Microbiology; guinea pigs; infection; novel species; Research Article; Streptococcus oriscaviae; infection; bite wound; guinea pigs; novel species; Streptococcus oriscaviae
• ISSN: 2165-0497; 2165-0497
• DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00014-22

Pet bite-related infections are commonly caused by the pet's oral flora transmitted to the animal handlers through the bite wounds. In this study, we isolated a , HKU75 , in pure culture from the purulent discharge collected from a guinea pig bite wound in a previously healthy young patient. HKU75 was alpha-hemolytic on sheep blood agar and agglutinated with Lancefield group D and group G antisera. API 20 STREP showed that the most likely identity for HKU75 was I with 85.4% confidence while Vitek 2 showed that HKU75 was unidentifiable. MALDI-TOF MS identified HKU75 as (score of 1.86 only). 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that HKU75 was most closely related to (98.3% nucleotide identity), whereas partial and gene sequencing showed that it was most closely related to (81.8% and 89.8% nucleotide identity respectively). Whole genome sequencing and intergenomic distance determined by ANI revealed that there was <85% identity between the genome of HKU75 and those of all other known species. Genome classification using concatenated sequences of 92 bacterial core genes showed that HKU75 belonged to the Suis group. gene sequences identical to that of HKU75 could be directly amplified from the oral cavities of the two guinea pigs owned by the patient. HKU75 is a novel species, which we propose to be named . The oral cavity of guinea pigs is presumably a reservoir of . Some of the reported strains isolated from clinical specimens may be . We reported the discovery of a novel species, propose to be named , from the pus collected from a guinea pig bite wound in a healthy young patient. The bacterium was initially misidentified as / by biochemical tests, mass spectrometry. and housekeeping genes sequencing. Its novelty was confirmed by whole genome sequencing. Comparative genomic studies showed that belongs to the Suis group. sequences were detected in the oral cavities of the two guinea pigs owned by the patient, suggesting that the oral cavity of guinea pigs could be a reservoir of . Some of the reported strains may be . Further studies are warranted to refine our knowledge on this novel species.