Actinomadura madurae

The microscopic and colonial morphology of organisms in the genus Actinomadura is very similar to those in the genus Streptomyces. Their powdery aerial hyphae may be blue, brown, cream, gray, green, pink, white, violet, or yellow. Colonies are wrinkled and may have a leathery or cartilaginous appearance when aerial mycelium is absent.^[4]

Cell walls contain the sugar madurose, a feature shared only with organisms in the genus Dermatophilus.^[4] Additionally, it is modified acid fast negative.

It can be grown in the range of 22–41 degrees Celsius and can be grown on a wide variety of media, including Yeast malt agar and Columbia agar. The incubation period is around 10–14 days.^[1]

Most commonly, A. madurae causes a chronic, invasive, slowly progressive infection that usually occurs in the foot, sometimes referred to as Madura foot. Infection nearly always results from the traumatic implantation of the organism. The infection occurs most frequently in tropical regions, where people are more likely to walk barefoot.^[2][4][5]

There have been reports of other manifestations of A. madurae infection, including a report of orbital actinomadura, as well as a report of central nervous system involvement in an A. madurae infection of a renal transplant patient.^[6][7]