Bacteremia Caused by the Eggerthella lenta in a Previously Healthy 30-Year-Old Man with Acute Suppurative Appendicitis: A Case Report from China

Abstract

Jie Jiang,1,2,* Bo She,3,4,* Rui Zheng1,2 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Hospital of Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 3PET/CT Center, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China; 4PET/CT Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Rui Zheng Tel [phone]Email [email protected]: Eggerthella lenta is part of the normal bacterial flora of the intestinal tract, but may cause life-threatening infections. E. lenta has been isolated from blood, abscesses, wounds, skin ulcers, and intra-abdominal infections. However, due to historical difficulties with laboratory identification by conventional biochemical methods, some cases of E. lenta infection have previously gone undiagnosed, especially in China where E. lenta infections are very rare. Recently, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), a new type of technology, has made it possible to identify E. lenta. We report a case of postoperative infection caused by E. lenta which was treated successfully using meropenem.Keywords: Eggerthella lenta, MALDI-TOF, intra-abdominal abscess, bloodstream infection, anaerobic bacteria

Keywords

• eggerthella lenta
• maldi-tof
• intra-abdominal abscess
• bloodstream infection
• anaerobic bacteria