Abstract

Pasteurella species cause zoonotic infections in humans. Human pasteurella infections usually manifest as local skin or soft tissue infection following an animal bite or scratch. Systemic infections are less common and are limited to patients at the extremes of age or those who have serious underlying disorders, including cirrhosis. Most human pasteurella infections are caused by the multocida species. We report a case of Pasteurella dagmatis peritonitis and septicaemia in a patient with cirrhosis. The infection followed a scratch inflicted by a pet dog. Despite appropriate antibiotic treatment the infection proved fatal. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis caused by P dagmatis has not been reported previously. Pasteurella dagmatis is a relatively recently described species, which is rarely reported as a human pathogen. This species may be misidentified unless commercial identification systems are supplemented by additional biochemical tests.