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Staphylococcus pasteuri bacteraemia in a patient with leukaemia
  1. V Savini1,
  2. C Catavitello1,
  3. D Carlino2,
  4. A Bianco1,
  5. A Pompilio3,
  6. A Balbinot1,
  7. R Piccolomini3,
  8. G Di Bonaventura3,
  9. D D’Antonio1
  1. 1Clinical Microbiology and Virology Unit, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Spirito Santo Hospital, Pescara, Italy
  2. 2Department of Haematology, Spirito Santo Hospital, Pescara, Italy
  3. 3Clinical Microbiology, Aging Research Center (Ce.S.I.), and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Gabriele d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Vincenzo Savini, Clinical Microbiology and Virology Unit, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Spirito Santo Hospital, via Fonte Romana 8, 65100, Pescara, Italy; vincsavi{at}yahoo.it

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Coagulase-negative staphylococci are frequently isolated from clinical specimens and they represent the most common cause of bacteraemia in hospitalised patients. Particularly, venous catheter-related bloodstream infections are often due to non-aureus staphylococci. These are opportunistic pathogens in immunocompromised hosts and may behave as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance determinants.1

A 75-year-old woman was admitted to hospital because of diffuse bone pain. A relapse of myeloid acute leukaemia was diagnosed (the first diagnosis had been made 5 months earlier), and she was admitted to the haematology department. Nine days later she developed fever (to 39°C) and chills. A Gram-negative infection was suspected, and blood samples (the set included two BacT/Alert aerobe/yeast bottles (bioMérieux, Marcy l’Etoile, France) plus one anaerobe bottle) were taken for culture. A second set (including two BacT/Alert aerobe/yeast bottles, without the anaerobe bottle) was taken after 30 min, and meropenem treatment was started (1 g every 8 h, intravenous). Due to persistence of fever, meropenem was replaced with piperacillin–tazobactam (4.5 g every 8 h, intravenous) 2 days later. After 48 h incubation, all of the samples were detected as positive by the BacT/Alert; Gram staining showed Gram-positive cocci, and cultures yielded Staphylococcus pasteuri as a single organism; typical yellow colonies were observed after 24 h incubation under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The species was initially identified as Staphylococcus warneri …

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Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.