%0 Journal Article %A Pérez-Tanoira, Ramón %A Cuadros, Juan %A Prieto-Pérez, Laura %A Manuel Ramos, José %A Górgolas, Miguel %T Cutaneous ulcers after falling from a tree %D 2016 %J JMM Case Reports, %V 3 %N 2 %@ 2053-3721 %C e005020 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jmmcr.0.005020 %K bacterial disease %K intravenous penicillin %K cutaneous ulcers %I Microbiology Society, %X Introduction: Clostridium tertium is present both in soil and in oral and faecal human flora and has been reported as a cause of various infections, such as brain abscess, sepsis and necrotizing soft tissue infections. Case presentation: A 12-year-old boy arrived at a rural hospital in the highlands of south-western Ethiopia with two cutaneous lesions on the left foot and elbow. The father said that the boy had fallen from a tree 6 days ago. A sample was taken from both lesions and cultured on blood agar. For both specimens, Gram-positive rods were observed following Gram staining and the following day growth on solid medium showed an aerotolerant sporulated Gram-positive bacillus. Treatment with intravenous penicillin was started and the boy recovered in 3 days. A concentrate of the culture inactivated with methanol was sent to a reference laboratory and identified by mass spectrometry as Clostridium tertium. Conclusion: The combined use of basic clinical microbiology tools with new and simple diagnostic technologies is redefining our knowledge about the aetiology of some common infectious diseases. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmmcr/10.1099/jmmcr.0.005020