Shewanella: a Marine Pathogen as an Emerging Cause of Human Disease

The genus Shewanella is one of a very small number of marine-dwelling genera that have the ability to cause human infections. Recent studies have revealed a number of new insights regarding these bacteria, showing that (i) most clinical infections are not caused by Shewanella putrefaciens, but rather, by Shewanella algae; (ii) at least five and perhaps as many as six or eight Shewanella species can cause human infections or can be isolated from clinical samples; (iii) most diagnostic identification systems at present cannot distinguish between these taxa; and (iv) Shewanella spp. have been recently associated with a number of new disease syndromes, including gastrointestinal infection. This report provides an overall update on this increasingly reported genus as an emerging cause of human infectious disease.