Create a 6 pages page paper that discusses alcaligenes faecalis. This organism does not usually cause a systemic infection. Alcaligenes faecalis has been reported to cause “sepsis, meningitis, peritonitis, enteric fever, appendicitis, cystitis, chronic suppurative otitis media, abscesses, arthritis, pneumonitis, and endocarditis” (Kavuncuoglu et al 118). Because Alcaligenes faecalis is resistant to commonly used antibiotics, the organism is associated with fatal outcomes.

Hans Riemann and Dean O. Cliver argue that foodborne diseases are increasing because of accelerated globalization of food supply, and emphasize the importance of finding new ways of detecting and identifying foodborne pathogens, and the elimination of food-related infections and intoxications. “Alcaligenes faecalis is a Gram-negative, oxidase-positive, and catalase-positive microorganism shaped in the form of a rod, coccal-rod or coccal” (Riemann and Cliver 343). The obligate aerobic bacterium moves with the help of peritrichous flagella, usually eight in number, but may occasionally be up to twelve. Some strains of the microorganism are capable of anaerobic respiration in the presence of nitrate or nitrite (Riemann and Cliver 343).

Alcaligenes faecalis generally exist singly and have a size of 0.5 – 1.0 x 0.5 – 2.6 um. The organism grows optimally at a temperature range of 20-370C. Although not considered as a major foodborne pathogen, it has caused occasional food-borne outbreaks with the typical symptoms of abdominal pain, headache, vomiting and diarrhea. Further, “A. faecalis is an important food spoilage bacterium” ((Riemann and Cliver 344). Besides soil and water, the organism has been isolated from various sources such as medical specimens including body fluids and body waste matter, and from nematodes and insects. Some species of A. faecalis are commonly found in the intestinal tracts of vertebrates (Riemann and Cliver 344). The scientific classification of Alcaligenes faecalis (Vasanthakumari 335) is as follows.