Infection and Drug Resistance (Jul 2023)

Burkholderia cepacia Induced Occipital Subcutaneous Abscess and Fracture in a Brain-Dead Woman

  • Yang W,
  • Liu T,
  • Zhan C,
  • Jiang H,
  • Zhang W,
  • Yang Q,
  • Zheng X

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 4535 – 4538

Abstract

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Wu Yang,1,* Tingting Liu,1,* Chun Zhan,2 Hui Jiang,1 Wang Zhang,3 Qing Yang,4 Xia Zheng1 1Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hang Zhou Integrative Medicine Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Infectious Diseases, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xia Zheng, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 79, Qingchun Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13958174689, Fax +86-571-87236838, Email [email protected]: Burkholderia cepacia is an aerobic opportunistic Gram-negative pathogen that mainly infects immunodeficiency patients. However, soft tissue infections with fractures due to Burkholderia cepacia are rare with no cases reported. Here, we report a rare case of 3 years of brain death in a 43-year-old woman with Burkholderia cepacia resulting in an occipital subcutaneous abscess and fracture. Through the second-generation sequencing of the whole genome of this strain, it was found that there were no high virulence genes and virulence factors. The patient received targeted antibiotic therapy and showed improvement in clinical symptoms and radiological signs. Bone destruction because of Burkholderia cepacia is easily overlooked due to the lack of characteristic symptoms and limited clinical examination. This case reminds us that Burkholderia cepacia without major virulence factors could damage the bone in immune-compromised patients.Keywords: brain death, Burkholderia cepacia, subcutaneous abscess, generation sequencing, case report

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