| Abstract: | We describe the recovery and identification of a bacterium that represents a new species of the genus Cupriavidus from cultures of respiratory tract specimens from two patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The elucidation of the role of this species in CF lung disease will require an evaluation of a greater number of cases.Persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) have chronic airway infection with gram-negative bacterial species that are usually not pathogenic for healthy persons. In addition to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which infects the majority of CF patients, several other species, including Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Achromobacter xylosoxidans, as well as a variety of Ralstonia, Cupriavidus, and Pandoraea species, also cause infection in CF (1, 8). However, the precise role these species play in contributing to lung disease in CF is unclear. Obstacles to better elucidating the potential role of these species in CF are their rapidly evolving taxonomy and the difficulty with their proper identification in culture. Here, we describe the recovery and identification of a novel Cupriavidus species from respiratory specimens from two CF patients, one living in Germany and the other residing in the United States. |
