Robertmurraya beringensis Causing Late-Onset Sepsis in Neonates: A Case Series of a Hitherto Unreported Organism

Late-onset sepsis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in neonates. Gram-positive organisms are increasingly being recognized as causing clinically significant sepsis. Bacillus beringensis was first reported as a novel species of the genus Bacillus and has not been reported to cause clinically significant infections in humans. This organism was reclassified as Robertmurraya beringensis in 2020, following taxonomic changes. We report six neonates, all of whom developed sepsis with this organism. In our patients, the organism was identified with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF-MS) test and revealed a mild-to-moderate virulence pattern. The neonates had predominantly gastrointestinal symptoms, with blood culture positivity in five neonates, and one neonate had the organism in the cerebrospinal fluid. The clinical outcomes were favorable in all the neonates, but one neonate died due to unrelated complications. With the significant emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms and the increasing survival of smaller neonates, this organism may become more significant as a causative agent in NICUs.