Corynebacterium minutissimum is known to be the cause of a superficial skin infection (erythrasma) but has also been attributed as the cause of bacteremia, wound infections, and urinary tract infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients with underlying comorbidities.
C. minutissimum is nonlipophilic and grows as a shiny, creamy, sometimes sticky colony on sheep blood agar. Isolates can fluoresce coral-orange to red under a Wood's lamp (365nm) when grown on media with 20% fetal calf serum. C. minutissimum are CAMP-negative, facultative anaerobes and are able to grow in 6.5% NaCl. Considered part of the human normal skin flora, this organism is catalase-positive and will ferment glucose, fructose, maltose, and ribose.
