Mycobacterium malmoense explained

Mycobacterium malmoense is a Gram-positive bacterium from the genus Mycobacterium.

Etymology

From the city of Malmö, Sweden where the strain used for the description was isolated from patients.

Gram-positive, nonmotile, acid-fast and coccoid to short rods.

Colony characteristics

Smooth and nonpigmented colonies, growth below the surface of semisolid agar medium after deep inoculation (as seen with M. bovis), 0.9 - 1.7mm in diameter.

Physiology

Growth on inspissated egg medium and oleic acid-albumin agar at a temperature range of 22 °C-37 °C requires over 1 week.
Susceptible to ethambutol, ethionamide, kanamycin and cycloserine.

Differential characteristics

Antigenic structure: seroagglutination demonstrates a single serovar distinct from that of other species.

Usually infects young children with cervical lymphadenitis or adults with chronic pulmonary disease, (mostly with previously documented pneumoconiosis).
Rarely causes extrapulmonary diseases and disseminated infections
Biosafety level 2
The first case of infectious endocarditis by M. malmoense was reported in 2020 in Cali, Colombia. The patient was a 61-year old woman with a history of biological mitral valve replacement due to rheumatic disease, dermatomyositis and rheumatoid arthritis in management with methotrexate, chloroquine, and prednisolone.^[1]

First isolated from sputum and biopsy specimens with pulmonary disease in Malmö, Sweden.

Strain ATCC 29571 = CCUG 37761 = CIP 105775 = DSM 44163 = JCM 13391 = NCTC 11298.

Posso-Osorio . Iván . Las Salas . Alejandra De . Tobón . Gabriel J. . Sierra-Ruiz . Melibea . Cañas . Carlos A. . Bravo . Juan Carlos . Moncada . Pablo A. . Mycobacterium malmoense: an unusual pathogen causing endocarditis, a case report and literature review . IDCases . 2020 . 22 . e00999 . 10.1016/j.idcr.2020.e00999 . 33194551 . 7642850 .