Emergency wound site infection caused by Gulosibacter massiliensis: a case report

Gulosibacter massiliensis is a new species of gram-positive, short rod-shaped, aerobic, oxidase-negative, and catalase-positive bacteria, which was discovered in human peripheral blood and named recently in 2022. Currently, the clinical reports on G. massiliensis are limited, and its pathogenic ability and infectivity remain unclear.

We isolated G. massiliensis from the exudate of an emergency traumatic wound of the right foot of a 54-year-old man. The patient stepped into a gutter with the right foot, causing a wound with exposed bone, oozing blood, and local infection. Through timely surgical treatment and active debridement and nursing, the wound healed smoothly, and the patient was discharged from the hospital uneventfully. This strain could not be accurately identified using conventional biochemical reactions or matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis in our clinical laboratory. Finally, the strain was identified correctly using 16 S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and historical data of Gulosibacter spp., and its drug susceptibility results were reported.

Reports on clinical infection or isolation of G. massiliensis are limited. This is the first study reporting its isolation from wound secretions. It is a rare opportunistic infectious bacterium. Further clinical research will help us understand its infectivity and pathogenicity. This report could guide the treatment and laboratory detection of local wound infections caused by G. massiliensis.