Description
To date there have been nine case reports implicating Corynebacterium striatum as a respiratory pathogen. The true incidence of C. striatum respiratory tract infection could be considerably greater than previously reported because of ignorance of its pathogenic potential and because these organisms will frequently be discarded as contaminants. We present only the second case of C. striatum respiratory tract infection in a patient who was not mechanically ventilated. In both our case and the previous case report the patients were known long-term sufferers of chronic obstructive airways disease.
