Center for Multiple Myeloma, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA
James J. Vaillant
Division of Public Health, Infectious Diseases, and Occupational Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA; Corresponding author.
Hector I. Michelena
Divisions of Structural Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Ultrasound, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Sorin V. Pislaru
Divisions of Structural Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Ultrasound, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
Daniel C. DeSimone
Division of Public Health, Infectious Diseases, and Occupational Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA
We present the first case of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infection due to Neisseria cinerea in a 64-year-old woman from Panama. She had a history of splenectomy, aortic valve stenosis requiring transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and permanent pacemaker placement. She presented with relapsing N. cinerea bacteremia over a 3-month period. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed a lead vegetation in the superior vena cava. She was successfully treated with pacemaker removal and 2 weeks of IV antibiotic therapy. N. cinerea is an aerobic gram-negative commensal diplococcus typically found in the human nasopharynx. Infection in humans is rare with few case reports in the literature.
