Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae bacteremia following a cat bite
Ken-ichiro Kobayashi,
Tomoaki Kawano,
Shinsuke Mizuno,
Kenji Kubo,
Nobuhiro Komiya,
Satoko Otsu
Affiliations
Ken-ichiro Kobayashi
Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan; Corresponding author at: Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, 4-20 Komatsubara-dori, Wakayama-City, Wakayama, 6408558, Japan.
Tomoaki Kawano
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan
Shinsuke Mizuno
Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan
Kenji Kubo
Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan
Nobuhiro Komiya
Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan
Satoko Otsu
Department of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Red Cross Wakayama Medical Center, Japan
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is a major causative organism of swine erysipelas, but the infection has rarely occurred in humans. A soft-tissue infection with this organism is described as “erysipeloid.” Most reported cases in human are related to occupational exposure. Endocarditis is a common complication of E. rhusiopathiae bacteremia in human.We report the case of a previously healthy 52-year-old Japanese female who presented with fever and an inflamed hand after being bitten by a stray cat. Blood culture was positive for E. rhusiopathiae, but no sign of infective endocarditis was observed. It may be prudent to consider E. rhusiopathiae infection in patients with animal bites. Keywords: Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Animal bites, Bacteremia
