Non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae endocarditis: A cluster of five cases

Classical toxin-mediated respiratory diphtheria has become less common because of widespread effective vaccination globally but invasive disease as a result of non-toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae is not prevented by vaccination and may result in severe disease, including infective endocarditis (IE).

To describe the outbreak and subsequent investigation of a cluster of five cases of non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae endocarditis.

A retrospective observational case series of five cases of non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae endocarditis identified in the rural West Coast district of the Western Cape province of South Africa between May 2021 and June 2021.

Non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae IE had an aggressive clinical course with high mortality in this cohort. Only one of five patients survived to hospital discharge. The surviving patient received a prompt diagnosis with early surgical intervention but still had a complicated clinical course. Notably, only one case had a pre-existing risk factor for IE, namely a prosthetic valve. Whole genome sequencing of clinical isolates confirmed that all isolates were of the same novel sequence type of non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae but despite a thorough investigation no epidemiological link was ever found between the cases.

Non-toxigenic strains of C. diphtheriae are less well known but may be highly virulent and cause severe invasive disease.

This is the largest cluster of non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae IE ever described in South Africa and expands the body of literature on this unusual but possibly emerging infection.