One Case Each of Recurrent Meningitis and Hemoperitoneum Infection with Ralstonia mannitolilytica

Abstract

Two clinical cases of infection with Ralstonia mannitolilytica are described: a recurrent meningitis on an implanted intraventricular catheter and an infected hemoperitoneum as a complication of a cholangiocarcinoma. The strains were first misidentified as Pseudomonas fluorescens and Burkholderia cepacia . Further testing lead to the identification as Ralstonia pickettii biovar 3/“ thomasii ,” which was recently shown to represent a separate species, R. mannitolilytica (List editor N. Weiss, Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51:795–796, 2001), originally described as R. mannitolytica (De Baere et al., Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51:547–558, 2001). R. mannitolilytica can be distinguished from all described Ralstonia species by its acidification of d -arabitol and mannitol and by its lack of nitrate reduction and of alkalinization of tartrate. In order to determine the true prevalence of infections with this species, colistin-resistant “ P. fluorescens ” strains and strains growing on B. cepacia selective medium deserve further attention.