Microbiological and clinical features of four cases of catheter-related infection by Methylobacterium radiotolerans

Four cases of central venous catheter-related Methylobacterium radiotolerans infection are presented here. The patients were all long-term catheter carriers with an underlying diagnosis of leukemia, and they mostly manifested fevers. The isolated bacterial strains all showed far better growth on buffered charcoal yeast extract agar during the initial isolation and/or subcultures than they did on sheep blood or chocolate agar. This microbiological feature may improve the culture recovery of this fastidious pink Gram-negative bacillus that has rarely been isolated in clinical microbiology laboratories.