Arthrobacter creatinolyticus: un patógeno emergente en el ser humano causante de infecciones del tracto urinario

Arthrobacter creatinolyticus is a Gram-positive aerobic coccobacillus, catalase-positive, belonging to the family Micrococcaceae, order Actinomycetales, usually found in soil and in the environment. This organism produces urease, an extracellular enzyme with many industrial applications and a potential use in anti-cancer therapy due to its cytotoxic effect.1 We have only found in the literature one case of bacteremia due to this microorganism, and none confirmed as a cause of urinary tract infection. We present a case of urinary tract infection due to A. creatinolyticus. A woman, in her ninety, came to the primary care with signs of agitation. The patient presented several pathologies as hypertension, diabetes, Parkinson''s disease and vascular dementia. She was aggressive at the time of consultation and the exploration was complicated as well as the anamnesis that was unable to stablish the presence of urethral syndrome. In addition no urine test strip or sediment analysis was done. The caregiver confirmed that the patient did not had fever but she had been agitated for the past four days. On the suspicion of urinary infection, the doctor ordered a urine culture and prescribed fosfomycin empirically. After 24 h of incubation in the chromogenic medium UTIR (Oxoid LTD, UK), >100, 000 CFU/mL of A. creatinolyticus were isolated (Fig. 1)..