Cutaneous infection caused by Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum.: A microbiological report

We report here a rare case of cutaneous infection due to Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum. The patient presented to the clinical laboratory with a skin ulcer oil his left leg. Gram-stained preparation of the purulent secretion revealed the presence of numerous rod-shaped Gram-positive organisms in the absence of any other species. The organism was grown in pure culture on sheep blood agar and was further identified as C. pseudodiphtheriticum using a commercial identification system (API-Coryne, BioMerieux, France). The infection was successfully treated with ciprofloxacin. This case emphasizes the importance of the clinical microbiology laboratory in correctly identifying Gram-positive organisms obtained in pure culture frorn skin ulcers.