Revised Description, from Clinical Strains, of Flavobacterium breve (Lustig) Bergey et al. 1923 and Proposal of the Neotype Strain

Abstract

F. breve (Lustig 1890) Bergey et al. 1923 was originally meagerly characterized in comparison with the wide range of characterization tests now available and subsequent descriptions of this species have been few and incomplete. No type strain was designated for F. breve and no neotype appears to have been proposed. Six strains from a collection of 1700 gram-negative, nonfermentative clinical strains submitted to the National Collection of Type Cultures for computer-assisted identification during the last 10 yr and 1 strain (ATCC 14234) maintained in a culture collection as F. breve conformed to the original and subsequent descriptions of F. breve. One of these 7 strains, CL88/76 (= NCTC 11099), is herein proposed as the neotype strain of F. breve. These 7 strains were examined in a large number of biochemical tests and in their susceptibility to a range of antimicrobial agents in order to provide a revised description of the species by which it may be more easily recognized in clinical material. One of the clinical strains died before its susceptibility could be determined, but the remaining 5 and ATCC 14234 were resistant to carbenicillin and gentamicin; the 5 clinical strains examined were also resistant to several other antimicrobial agents generally useful in the treatment of infections caused by gram-negative, nonfermentative bacteria. Infections due to this species could prove to be difficult to treat.