Revised Description, from Clinical Isolates, of Flavobacterium odoratum Stutzer and Kwaschnina 1929, and Designation of the Neotype Strain

Abstract

F. odoratum Stutzer and Kwaschnina 1929 was originally meagerly described. No type strain was designated and the species does not appear to have been referred to in the literature since it was first described. A reference strain (ATCC 4651 = NCTC 11036) of this species, one of Stutzer''s strains, was examined, which was proposed as the neotype strain. Of 1500 gram-negative, non-fermentative isolates submitted to the National Collection of Type Cultures for computer-assisted identification over the last 10 yr, 9 conformed in their characters to the proposed neotype strain of F. odoratum. These strains were examined in a large number of biochemical tests and in susceptibility to a range of antimicrobial agents in order to give a revised description of the organism by which it may be more easily recognized in clinical material. All 10 isolates of F. odoratum were resistant to gentamicin and carbenicillin and to serveral other antimicrobial agents generally useful in the treatment of infections caused by gram-negative, non-fermentative organisms, and this suggests that infections due to this organism might prove difficult to treat.