Microbiology
Gram-negative coccobacillus K. denitrificans, K. indologenes, K. kingae, K. potus. Kingella potus. President of the United States? The Trump bacillus?
Epidemiologic Risks
Found in the human mouth (Review).
Syndromes
It can be found in any illness where there is saliva, the big worry is endocarditis when found in the blood; K. kingae puts the K in HACEK endocarditis. It also has shown up in a variety of bone and joint infections mostly in children.
It can be very slow to grow so have the lab hold the blood cultures a couple of weeks if a worry for endocarditis.
Treatment
Any beta-lactam, the usual treatment is either ampicillin OR third-generation cephalosporins. There are reports of beta-lactamase producing strains.
Notes
Curious Cases
Relevant links to my Medscape blog
Last update: 05/05/18