Nuevos tiempos clínicos para Streptococcus vestibularis

Abstract

Streptococcus vestibularis, which has been described at the beginning of last century, has been isolated from different sources (oral cavity, stomach or jejunum, for instance). Regarding its denomination, this microorganism was named after its first isolation source (mucosa from oris vestibulum). In spite of great difficulties in the taxonomy of viridans group streptococci, genetic tests have recently made it possible to distinguish S. vestibularis from other species of the same group, even from those phylogenetically close to it (Streptococcus salivarius and Streptococcus thermophilus). Studies on this bacteria have revealed it possess a considerable number of virulence factors, which may provide it with notable virulence regardless of its opportunistic pathogen behaviour. Identification of viridans group streptococci is also difficult, as phenotypic methods have shown to be troublesome. Nevertheless, sequence-based methods (rRNA 16S) or MALDI-TOF offer relatively reliable identifications, despite the lack of information about these species. Antibiotic susceptibility of S. vestibularis has been poorly studied, as this species is rarely isolated in day-to-day clinical practice in relation to infections. As a result of this, the antibiotic susceptibility profile of this bacteria is based on general information about antibiotic susceptibility of viridans group streptococci.