The Genus Corynebacterium and Other Medically Relevant Coryneform-Like Bacteria

Catalase-positive Gram-positive bacilli, commonly called "diphtheroids" or "coryneform" bacteria were historically nearly always dismissed as contaminants when recovered from patients, but increasingly have been implicated as the cause of significant infections. These taxa have been underreported, and the taxa were taxonomically confusing. The mechanisms of pathogenesis, especially for newly described taxa, were rarely studied. Antibiotic susceptibility data were relatively scant. In this minireview, clinical relevance, phenotypic and genetic identification methods, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) evaluations, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing involving species in the genus Corynebacterium and other medically relevant Gram-positive rods, collectively called coryneforms, are described.