Kingella kingae infections in children: An update

For most of the four decades that have elapsed since the first description of Kingella kingae, this Gram-negative ß-hemolytic member of the Neisseriaceae family was considered exceptional rare cause of human disease, infrequently isolated from infected joints, bones and cardiac valves [1-3]. The serendipitous discovery that inoculation of synovial fluid and bone exudates into blood culture vials (BCV) significantly improved detection of the organism, resulted in the appreciation of K. kingae as an emerging invasive pathogen in young children [4-7]. Since the last time this topic was covered in this series [8], increasing adoption of the BCV technique for culturing joint and bone aspirates and growing familiarity of clinical microbiology laboratories with the identification of the organism, coupled with the development of nucleic acid amplification techniques (NAAT) [9-11], has considerably increased our knowledge of K. kingae. The present review summarizes recent advances in the detection, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, immunology, and treatment of pediatric infections caused by the organism.