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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Cystic Fibrosis Aggregate Biofilm Model to Study Infection-relevant Gene Expression
Published on: April 18, 2025
Chryseobacterium respiratory tract infections in patients with cystic fibrosis
Antonietta Lambiase1, Mariassunta Del Pezzo, Valeria Raia
1Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathology Luigi Califano, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. alambias@unina.it
Objectives:
To investigate the prevalence of infections by Chryseobacterium in a cohort of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of these strains, to examine their DNA fingerprinting and to evaluate some clinical outcomes of patients infected by these bacteria.
Methods:
Patients (300) attending a Regional Cystic Fibrosis Unit were enrolled in this study over 4 years. Natural or induced sputum samples were processed for microscopic and cultural tests. For phenotypic identification, automated and manual systems were used. For chemosusceptibility test, an automatic broth microdilution test and a disk-diffusion test were used and strains underwent DNA fingerprinting by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).
Results:
Thirty-five strains of Chryseobacterium were isolated from 22 patients. These strains showed a broad-spectrum antimicrobial resistance, with activity only for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and quinolones. PFGE profiles of all isolates were generally heterogeneous, suggesting independent circulation.
Conclusions:
This is the first report about clinical isolates of Chryseobacterium spp from CF patients in an Italian Centre. The infection by Chryseobacterium was not associated to a deterioration of pulmonary function and mortality: therefore, all patients infected by Chryseobacterium were co-infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 3 of these were also co-infected by Burkholderia cepacia complex.
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