Laboratory-confirmed case of toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans in the United Kingdom

On 15 February 2007, the United Kingdom’s Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory confirmed isolation of a toxigenic (toxin-producing) Corynebacterium ulcerans from a pharyngeal sample taken from a man in his mid-fifties in North Yorkshire, England. The man’s symptoms included a five-week history of pharyngitis, laryngitis, fever and abdominal pain.