Case reportFirst case of abdominal infection caused by bacteroides fluxus
Introduction
Bacteroides spp. are Gram-negative anaerobic bacilli which are predominant members of the human gastrointestinal microbiota [1]. Currently, the genus Bacteroides comprised 127 recognized species (List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature; http://lpsn.dsmz.de); among them, B. fragilis has been both the most frequently isolated and the most relevant species from a clinical point of view. Other species belonging to this genus have been less frequently identified as pathogens. During the last decade, some new species have been identified after isolation from faecal samples of healthy individuals [2]. We recently observed a rare case of abdominal infection due to B. fluxus in a patient with a clinical history of pancreatitis and intestinal ischemia. To our knowledge, this is the first description of this anaerobic microorganism obtained from a clinical sample in pure culture.
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Case report
A 76-year-old man was admitted to the Emergency Department of our hospital after 24 hours with increased dyspnea, orthopnea and non-productive cough. His clinical history was remarkable for chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (CPOD) and chronic respiratory insufficiency for more than 10 years. At admission, the physical exam only showed tachypnea (23 bpm) and lung basal hypoventilation. Blood analysis showed increased levels of urea [88 mg/dL, (17–43 mg/dL)], creatinine [1.34 mg/dL, (0.67–1.2
Discussion
Among the anaerobic Gram-negative bacilli, the B. fragilis group, especially B. fragilis subsp fragilis, is most commonly isolated from human infections [6]. Other members of this group frequently recovered include B. ovatus, B. thetaiotaomicron, and B. vulgatus [6]. All these species are part of the normal gastrointestinal microbiota and they are commonly described as pathogens causing most often intraabdominal infections and abscess formation. In addition, when the mucosal barrier becomes
Declaration of competing interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
Support for this research was provided by the European Union, 3TR (H2020-JTI538, IMI-2), 2018.
VPC was supported by “Programa de Promoción de Empleo Joven e Implantación de la Garantía Juvenil en I + D + I″, MIMECO, Spain.
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