Capnocytophaga sepsis causing purpura fulminans in a 50-year-old man with chronic opioid use
Christopher Hogge,
Miriam Holzman,
Sahiba Khurana,
Milos Brankovic,
Chrystal Chang,
Gabriel Fernandez,
Diana Finkel
Affiliations
Christopher Hogge
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Miriam Holzman
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA; Correspondence to: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, MSB I-689, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
Sahiba Khurana
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Milos Brankovic
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Chrystal Chang
Department of Urology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Gabriel Fernandez
Department of Urology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
Diana Finkel
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA; Corresponding author.
We present a case of polymicrobial sepsis with Capnocytophaga spp. complicated by purpura fulminans following a dog-bite in a 50-year-old-man with an extensive history of opioid use disorder. Generally, severe Capnocytophaga cases are thought to occur in patients with underlying immune deficiencies. However, this case highlights the importance of maintaining clinical suspicion for Capnocytophaga infection in immunocompetent patients, and we discuss the role of chronic opioid-use in severe infection.
