Sphingobacterium spiritivorum

Spingobacterium spiritivorum is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium, and is a member of the phylum Bacteroidota.^[1] It is aerobic, non-motile, and non-spore-producing.^[2] It is positive for catalase, oxidase, and urease, and produces yellow colonies on blood agar plates.^[1] S. spiritivorum is commonly isolated from soil and water.^[3] S. spiritivorum was initially identified as a Flavobacterium,^[1] but the genus name Sphingobacterium was later proposed due to its high numbers of sphingophospholipids in the cell wall, differentiating it from Flavobacterium.^[2]

Sphingobacterium spiritivorum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Pseudomonadati
Phylum:	Bacteroidota
Class:	Sphingobacteriia
Order:	Sphingobacteriales
Family:	Sphingobacteriaceae
Genus:	Sphingobacterium
Species:	S. spiritivorum
Binomial name
Sphingobacterium spiritivorum (Holmes et al. 1982) Yabuuchi et al. 1983

Associations with infection

S. spiritivorum associated infections are rare, there are only a limited number of cases of Sphingobacterium spiritivorum bacteremia and S. spiritivorum associated infections.^[4] S. spiritivorum and S. multivorum are the only Sphingobacterium which have been isolated from human clinical specimens.^[5] S. spiritivorum is commonly identified through blood and urine.^[6]

S. spiritivorum infections, while rare, are most commonly associated with cellulitis and septicemia.^[7] Though is has also been associated with scrub typhus,^[7] post-keratoplasty keratitis,^[6] and extrinsic allergic alveolitis^[8] among other complications, procedures, and infections.^[9][10]

Bioremediation

S. spiritivorum has also been used in the bioremediation of benzo(a)pyrene and phenanthrene contaminated soils though there is limited research surrounding the biodegradation of soil contaminants.^[11][12]