Journal of clinical microbiology
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jan 2020
Cutibacterium acnes Isolates from Deep Tissue Specimens Retrieved during Revision Shoulder Arthroplasty: Similar Colony Morphology Does Not Indicate Clonality.
Cutibacterium acnes is the most common bacterium associated with periprosthetic shoulder infections. Sequencing of C. acnes has been proposed as a potential rapid diagnostic tool and a method of determining subtypes associated with pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance patterns. When multiple deep samples from the same surgery are culture positive for the same species and the isolates show the same culture phenotype, it is typically assumed that these isolates are clonal. ⋯ Up to four different subtypes of C. acnes were observed in the deep tissues of a single patient. Clonality of C. acnes isolates from deep specimens from a potential periprosthetic shoulder infection cannot be assumed. Sequence-based characterization of virulence and antibiotic resistance may require testing of multiple deep specimens.