Persistent Bacillus cereus Bacteremia in 3 Persons Who Inject Drugs, San Diego, California, USA

Abstract

Bacillus cereus is typically considered a blood culture contaminant; however, its presence in blood cultures can indicate true bacteremia. We report 4 episodes of B. cereus bacteremia in 3 persons who inject drugs. Multilocus sequence typing showed that the temporally associated infections were caused by unrelated clones.

Keywords

• bacillus
• Bacillus cereus
• bacteremia
• California
• injection drug users
• multilocus sequence typing