Enterobacter sakazakii
| Cronobacter | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Proteobacteria |
| Class: | Gamma Proteobacteria |
| Order: | Enterobacteriales |
| Family: | Enterobacteriaceae |
| Genus: | Cronobacter |
| Binomial name | |
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Cronobacter sakazakii (Farmer et al. 1980) |
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Cronobacter is the officially recognised bacterial genus name for the organism which before 2007 was named Enterobacter sakazakii. The name Enterobacter should no longer be used as the genus name as Cronobacter has been accepted in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, along with the description of the new species. . This is an opportunistic Gram-negative, rod-shaped, pathogenic bacterium that can live in very dry places. The majority of Cronobacter cases are adults but low-birth-weight preterm neonatal and older infants are highest at risk. The disease is associated with a rare cause of invasive infection infants with historically high case fatality rates (40–80%).
In infants it can cause bacteraemia, meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis. Most neonatal C. sakazakii infections cases have been associated with the use of powdered infant formula with some strains able to survive in a desiccated state for more than two years. However, not all cases have been linked to contaminated infant formula. In November 2011, several shipments of Kotex tampons were recalled due to a Cronobacter (E. sakazakii) contamination. There also was a study done where they found the strands of pathogen in 12% of field vegetables and 13% of hydroponic vegetables.
All Cronobacter species, except C. condimenti, have been linked retrospectively to clinical cases of infection in either adults or infants. However multilocus sequence typing has shown that the majority of neonatal meningitis cases in the past 30 years, across 6 countries have been associated with only one genetic lineage of the species Cronobacter sakazakii called 'Sequence Type 4' or 'ST4', and therefore this clone appears to be of greatest concern with infant infections.
The bacterium is ubiquitous being isolated from a range of environments and foods, and the majority of Cronobacter cases are in the adult population. However it is the association with intrinsically or extrinsically contaminated powdered formula which has attracted the main attention. According to multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) the genus originated ~40 MYA, and the most clinically significant species, C. sakazakii, was distinguishable ~15-23 MYA. .
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