The First Korean Case ofSphingobacterium spiritivorumBacteremia in a Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

Sphingobacterium spiritivorum has been rarely isolated from clinical specimens of immunocompromised patients, and there have been no case reports of S. spiritivorum infection in Korea to our knowledge. We report a case of S. spiritivorum bacteremia in a 68-yr-old woman, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and subsequently received chemotherapy. One day after chemotherapy ended, her body temperature increased to 38.3℃. A gram-negative bacillus was isolated in aerobic blood cultures and identified as S. spiritivorum by an automated biochemical system. A 16S rRNA sequencing analysis confirmed that the isolate was S. spiritivorum. The patient received antibiotic therapy for 11 days but died of septic shock. This is the first reported case of human S. spiritivorum infection in Korea. Although human infection is rare, S. spiritivorum can be a fatal opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients.

Sphingobacterium spiritivorumsepticaemia associated with cellulitis in a patient with Parkinson's disease

“…Per previous clinical reports, it is usually found to be resistant to aminoglycosides (eg, amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin), aztreonam and polymyxins, and has been reported to be sensitive to β-lactams (penicillin derivatives, cephalosporins, carbapenems), fluoroquinolones, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracyclines and vancomycin, as in our case 4 6 10. Though, interestingly, several strains of S. spiritivorum described by Holmes et al 1 and Yabuuchi et al 3 in 1982–1983, and recently by other authors, were resistant to penicillin derivatives, cephalosporins and tetracyclines as well as to aminoglycosides 5 9…”

Sphingobacterium spiritivorum bacteremia due to cellulitis in an elderly man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure: a case report

“…We identified five previously reported cases of S. spiritivorum infection in the English literature [ 2 – 6 ] (Table 2 ). Three cases were caused by cellulitis [ 2 , 3 , 6 ] and two cases by catheter-related blood stream infection [ 4 , 5 ]. In most of these cases, the patients had predisposing factors and underlying diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease (with chronic venous stasis due to akinesia and injuries from frequent falls, which are risk factors for cellulitis) [ 2 , 3 ], refractory anemia [ 4 ], acute myeloid leukemia treated with chemotherapy [ 5 ], and end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis [ 6 ].…”

Sphingobacterium spiritivorum infection in a patient with end stage renal disease on haemodialysis

“…Infections caused by the then named “ Flavobacterium ” species were first described in 1980 [ 14 ]. Infection and septicaemia caused by Sphingobacterium have since been well described in a variety of settings, including peritonitis, nectrotising fasciitis and respiratory tract infections [ 15 ]. Although 15 species of Sphingobacterium have been identified to date, literature describes Sphingobacterium multivorum / spiritivorum as the only species that have been isolated from human clinical specimens [ 16 ].…”

“…Four cases of S. spiritivorum associated infection have been described thus far. Two of these cases were of cellulitis, one of extrinsic allergic alveolitis, and the most recent case of septicaemia in a patient with acute myeloid leukaemia [ 15 , 17 – 19 ]. Death only occurred in the patient with leukaemia, whereas the other cases resolved after antibiotic therapy.…”

“…Sphingobacterium are generally intrinsically resistant to aminoglycosides and polymyxin B [ 21 ]. Antibiotic sensitivity testing by multiple sources suggests Sphingobacterium are sensitive to quinolones and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole with S. spiritivorum having further sensitivities to carbapenems and some cephalosporins [ 15 ].…”