Authors: O O de Morais C M Gomes
Publish Date: 2012/11/08
Volume: 41, Issue: 1, Pages: 281-281
Abstract
Firstly we would like to thank Su et al for the interesting and pertinent comments and questions about our manuscript 1 They not only introduce new considerations to our case but they also provide us with the opportunity to discuss new aspects of Aeromonas which were not addressed in the original articleWe take on board your question “is it really Aeromonas hydrophilla” although we are afraid there is no answer because no molecular identification tests were applied in the index case Nonetheless we wish to discuss some practical issues of Aeromonas species identification and its clinical relevanceA aquariorum is a relatively recently described species—a fact that actually may explain the possible misidentification of the species involved in human disease 2 Its precise distribution in the environment is still unknown and a few years ago it was still considered a species without clinical relevance in humans 3 Only recently have papers shown human infection and colonization by A aquariorum to be much more common than previously believed 4It is important to state that laboratory techniques used to identify Aeromonas species are really variable from several studies making it difficult to define a reliable and accurate method for this purpose 2 Molecular biology would certainly be the best way to solve this problem but we must consider this to be an unreliable alternative in most countries around the world It is also imperative to highlight the occurrence of high rates of mutations and horizontal transfer in the genus Aeromonas sometimes making even the molecular identification difficult 5In our index case we have used extensively described biochemical methods to classify Aeromonas species otherwise we consider sufficient the identification of Aeromonas genus for the practical purpose of the patient’s treatment The susceptibility for active drugs in the genus appears to be independent of species designation as mentioned by Janda et al 2010 3 Despite this we assume that genotypic tests may be useful in similar cases to ours allowing for a precise identification and classification of the etiologic agent 5
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