Isolation of Helcococcus kunzii from plantar phlegmon in a vascular patient

1 Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Hygiène, Centre de Biologie-Pathologie, Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire, Lille, France 2 Service de Soins de Suite et Réadaptation, Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire, Lille, France Correspondence Nadine Lemaître n-lemaitre{at}chru-lille.fr Received 16 January 2008 Accepted 18 March 2008 Helcococcus kunzii has previously been considered to belong to the normal skin flora of podiatry patients. Here, H. kunzii was isolated in abundance from a pus specimen collected by incision and drainage of plantar phlegmon. This fastidious Gram-positive species was unambiguously identified with the colorimetric VITEK 2 GP card identification system. This suggests that this phenotypic identification system is able to identify promptly H. kunzii , which should be considered a potential pathogen.