Until now, there have been three known species of Pseudocitrobacter bacteria, and the novel isolate was determined to be distinct from all three. The patient from whom the new species was obtained was colonized but not experiencing infection, and therefore did not require antimicrobial treatment.
In clinical testing, the novel isolate, which researchers proposed naming Pseudocitrobacter limerickensis, was resistant to antibiotics including carbapenems, β-lactams, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, aminoglycosides and cephalosporins.
“The difficulty with identifying this species by conventional methodologies suggests potential under-reporting over an extended period, this adds to the challenges with determining its evolutionary history,” the authors wrote.
Urgency to further investigate the novel type of bacteria is warranted due to ongoing warnings from the World Health Organization about the threat that drug-resistant bacteria poses to human health.
This, combined with the spread of the bacteria and “emerging reports of severe infections associated with Pseudocitrobacter isolates,” calls for further characterization and research across the board, the study authors wrote.
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