Herbaspirillum Infection in Humans: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Abstract

Introduction. Herbaspirillum seropedicae are Gram-negative oxidase-positive nonfermenting rods of Betaproteobacteria class, commonly found in rhizosphere. More recently, some Herbaspirillium species have transitioned from environment to human hosts, mostly as opportunistic (pathogenic) bacteria. We present a 58-year-old female with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who presented with pneumonia and was found to have Herbaspirillum seropedicae bacteremia. Case History. A 58-year-old woman with NSCLC on Pralsetinib presented with fevers and rigors for 2 days. Coarse breath sounds were auscultated on the right upper lung field. Labs revealed leukopenia and mild neutropenia. CT chest revealed right upper lobe pneumonia. She was admitted for sepsis secondary to pneumonia and placed on broad spectrum antibiotics with intravenous piperacillin-tazobactam and vancomycin. The patient continued to have fever 2 days after admission (max: 102.8°F). Preliminary blood cultures grew Gram-negative rods. The patient continued to have temperature spikes on the 3rd day of antibiotics (Tmax 101.5°F). Blood cultures revealed oxidase-positive nonfermenting rods. The patient’s antibiotic was changed to IV meropenem on the 4th day of hospitalization. Ultimately, on the seventh day of hospitalization, the blood culture was confirmed from outside lab as Herbaspirillum seropedicae. The patient started feeling better and defervesced after about 24 hours. Discussion. More recently, Herbaspirillum spp. have been recovered from humans. Our patient had Herbaspirillum bacteremia, and reported regularly cleaning her pond and weeding her garden with possible exposure to this environmental proteobacterium. Herbaspirillum may be more prevalent than earlier thought owing to misidentification. With the institution of appropriate antimicrobial therapy, the outcomes seem mostly favorable.

Quality of dialysis water and dialysate in haemodialysis centres: Highlight for occurrence of non-fermenting gram-negative bacilli

“…Herbaspirillum spp. were first described in clinical samples in 1996 (Baldani et al 1996); since then, such NFGNB have been recovered from infections of the skin, bloodstream, and respiratory and gastrointestinal systems (Chemaly et al 2015; Regunath et al 2015; Abreu‐Di Berardino et al 2019; Liu et al 2019; Dhital et al 2020). In several countries, Brevundimonas spp.…”

“…MALDI‐TOF‐MS is a highly useful tool for microbial identification, especially in cases of micro‐organisms of complex biochemical and molecular evaluation (Patel 2015; Fang et al 2019). The increasing use of MALDI‐TOF‐MS and molecular methods in laboratory analyses has allowed great advance in NFGNB diagnosis, demonstrating that such micro‐organisms can be much more clinically prevalent than previously thought (Regunath et al 2015; Dhital et al 2020).…”

Environmental and clinical isolates of Herbaspirillum induce pulmonary infection in mice and its secretome is cytotoxic to human lung cells

“…Herbaspirillum species have been recovered from the respiratory secretions of patients with cystic fibrosis, lung cancer and pneumonia [14,15,17,20]. The behaviour of microorganisms within epithelial cells may provide insights into its overall pathogenic strategy.…”

“…More recently, some Herbaspirillium species have transitioned from the environment to human hosts, mostly as opportunistic bacteria [13][14][15]. Cases of colonization and infection in humans have been noted in cystic fibrosis, immunocompromised cancer patients and cases of pneumonia as well as in some patients without an apparent immunosuppressed state [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. To better understand how the Herbaspirillum genus are migrating from the environment to human hosts, the genome of Herbaspirillum seropedicae strains isolated from cystic fibrosis patients and from the environment have been sequenced and compared [21].…”

High Genomic Identity between Clinical and Environmental Strains of Herbaspirillum frisingense Suggests Pre-Adaptation to Different Hosts and Intrinsic Resistance to Multiple Drugs

“…These isolates originated in Germany, Sweden, and the United States, the oldest isolate being identified in 1968 [ 2 ]. Recently, isolates of the genus Herbaspirillum have been found more frequently in humans, especially in samples from immunocompromised patients with cancer, sepsis, cystic fibrosis, and pneumonia not related to cystic fibrosis [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. The first clinical isolate of H. frisingense to undergo genomic sequencing was strain VT-16–41, which was isolated from a patient with a urinary tract infection [ 16 ].…”