Case Study: Soft tissue infection with Raoultella ornithinolytica

Abstract

Raoultella ornithinolytica is a rare encapsulated Gram-negative aerobic and facultative anaerobic rod belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family. It tends to inhabit water and soil environments and can be found on insects, fish, ticks, and termites, but can also found in the hospital environment.1, 2 R ornithinolytica has been documented in respiratory, urinary, gastrointestinal, and biliary tract infections as well as bacteraemia and systemic infections but has rarely been documented in soft tissue infections.2 This case study describes a recurrent paronychia infection secondary to R ornithinolytica in a young woman not responding to antibiotics and successfully treated with surgical management.

Keywords

• Paronychia
• Microbiology
• Infectious diseases
• Hand and upper limb
• Raoultella ornithinolytica