Skin and soft tissue infection caused by Cysteiniphilum litorale in an immunocompetent patient: A case report

Cysteiniphilum litorale is a Gram-negative coccobacillus first isolated from the seawater of Wailingding Island near the estuary of Pearl River in southern China. This organism was previously not considered to cause disease in animals or humans. We report a case of a 19-year-old female patient infected with abscess caused by C. litorale in the middle digit of her right hand after minor trauma during the handling of estuarine shrimps at home. C. litorale was cultured from the wound exudate of the patient and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Whether C. litorale may be transmitted to humans via other channels requires further exploration.