Type: Parasite
Name: Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
Importance- to Body:
Cutaneous Infection
Distribution- in Body:
Skin; Subacute cellulitis most commonly on the fingertips. It is slightly raised and violaceous.
Epidemiology: Thin, pleomorphic, nonsporulating gram-positive rod
Food Sources:
Main host is swine, Lives in the mucoid exterior slime layer of fish
Environmental/Geographic Sources:
Diagonosis:
Microbiologic cultures
Treatment:
Resolves in 3 to 4 weeks without treatment. If treatment is needed, most strains susceptible to penicillins, cephalosporins, clindamycin, imipenem, and ciprofloxacin. Antibiotic duration usually 2 weeks. if necessary.
Supplemental information:
Source: Cutaneous Manifestations Of Waterborne Infections by: Lucinda Elko, MD, RPh, Keith Rosenbach, MD, PhD*, and John Sinnott, MD
| Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cellular and colonial morphology of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Firmicutes |
| Class: | Erysipelotrichia |
| Order: | Erysipelotrichales |
| Family: | Erysipelotrichaceae |
| Genus: | Erysipelothrix |
| Species: | E. rhusiopathiae |
| Binomial name | |
| Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae Migula, 1900
| |
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is a Gram-positive, catalase-negative, rod-shaped, nonspore-forming, nonacid-fast, nonmotile bacterium. Distributed worldwide, E. rhusiopathiae is primarily considered an animal pathogen, causing the disease known as erysipelas that may affect a wide range of animals. Pigs, turkeys and laying hens are most commonly affected, but cases have been reported in other mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles. In pigs, the disease is known as "diamond skin disease". The bacterium can also cause zoonotic infections in humans, called erysipeloid. The human disease called erysipelas is not caused by E. rhusiopathiae, but by various members of the genus Streptococcus.