Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 573-576, 2007

Cellulitis and Bacteremia Caused by Bergeyella zoohelcum

  • Wei-Ru Lin

      Affiliations

    • Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yao-Shen Chen

      Affiliations

    • Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yung-Ching Liu

      Affiliations

    • Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Yung-Ching Liu, Section of Infectious Diseases, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386 Ta-Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan

Received 28 June 2006; received in revised form 19 December 2006; accepted 2 January 2007.

Article Outline

Bergeyella zoohelcum is a rod-shaped, aerobic, Gram-negative, non-motile and non-saccharolytic bacterium. It is frequently isolated from the upper respiratory tract of dogs, cats and other mammals. Clinically, B. zoohelcum has been known to cause cellulitis, leg abscess, tenosynovitis, septicemia, pneumonia and meningitis, and is associated with animal bites. In addition, food-borne transmission was considered in a recent case report. We report a 73-year-old man with liver cirrhosis who had no history of dog bite but had dog exposure, who developed cellulitis of the left lower leg and B. zoohelcum was isolated from blood culture. This patient, without evidence of polymicrobial infection, was treated with cefazolin and gentamicin with a good outcome. B. zoohelcum is a zoonotic pathogen that may cause bacteremia in patients with underlying disease such as liver cirrhosis; it can be treated with a beta-lactam or quinolone.

Key Words:  Bergeyella zoohelcum , cellulitis , dog bite , liver cirrhosis

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PII: S0929-6646(07)60008-4

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(07)60008-4

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 106, Issue 7 , Pages 573-576, 2007

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