To date, the genus Actinomyces comprises 38 described species
of which many have been reported from human sources [1].
Apart from the ’classical’ actinomycosis involving abscesses in
the mouth, lungs or gastrointestinal tract and often forming
polymicrobial infection, Actinomyces species have been implicated
in abscess formation at other body sites, infected
atheroma, infection of skin structures, endophthalmitis and
bacteraemia including endocarditis [2,3]. Actinomyces funkei is a species first described in 2001 [4]. To date, there is only one clinical report on A. funkei in the literature describing endocarditis in an intravenous drug abuser [5]. As little is known of the natural habitat and clinical significance of this species, we present six clinical cases of infection with A. funkei as well as detailed data on microbiological identification including biochemistry, full 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry analysis