Bacteraemia due to Campylobacter fetus in an immune suppressed patient

Abstract

We report a case of bacteraemia by Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus in a 77 year-old woman with immunosuppression secondary to steroid use. Diagnosis was suspected by finding Gram negative curved rods in blood cultures taken after 4 days of a febrile illness without local findings. Diarrhea was not present. There was no consumption of undercooked meat or non-pasteurized milk and no contact with pets. The patient was treated with sulbactam-cefoperazone due to the coexistence of urinary tract infection by multiresistant E. coli. The outcome was favorable and albeit susceptibility was not assessed, quinolone resistance was presumed because illness appeared during ciprofloxacin prophylaxis for urinary tract infection. In contrast to C. jejuni infections, C. fetus infections are associated to debilitated or immunosuppressed patients, bacteraemia is predominant, diarrhea is rarely observed and disease is not self-limited.