Cases of Leuconostoc lactis isolation from nonsterile biotopes of ENT outpatients

Reshetneva I.T., Rukosueva T.V., Skorokhodova T.G.

Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after professor V.F.Voyno-Yasenetsky, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation

LLC «Center for Laboratory Technology ABV» Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation

Bacteria of the genus Leuconostoc are ubiquitous in the environment; plants and soil are their natural econiches. Leukonostok was not previously classified as pathogenic microorganisms, however, since the mid-80s of the last century, information has appeared about the isolation of these bacteria from clinical material. To date, cases of isolation of these microorganisms with proven etiological significance only from sterile biotopes from patients with immunosuppression or other predisposing factors have been described. The frequency of colonization of the population as a whole has not been studied, since the possibility of identifying bacteria of the genus Leuconostoc in routine practice is limited by the presence of special equipment in the laboratory.

In our study, cases of isolation from clinical material obtained from outpatients with ENT pathology of bacteria of the genus Leuconostoc included in the group of lactic acid microorganisms are described. In a clinically significant titer, Leuconostoc lactis was isolated by a bacteriological method from two patients: a child of 4 years old with a clinical diagnosis of tonsillitis and a woman of 70 years old with a diagnosis of external otitis media, unspecified. The etiological significance of these bacteria in the development of the inflammatory process is indicated by the growth of Leuconostoc lactis on culture media in a pure culture, as well as their high concentration (>105) in the test material. Our results confirm for the first time the ability of Leuconostoc lactis to cause infectious processes in open non-sterile biotopes.