First case report of endocarditis caused by haematobacter massiliensis in China

• Main Authors: Jing-wei Cheng, Peng Wang, Meng Xiao, Ying Yuan, Timothy Kudinha, Ying Zhao, Fanrong Kong, Ying-chun Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2017-10-01
• Series: BMC Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Haematobacter massiliensis; Infectious endocarditis; China
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12879-017-2809-7

Abstract Background Haematobacter massiliensis, a rare species of fastidious Gram-negative, non-motile, non-sporing, non-fermentative, pleomorphic, aerobic bacilli, has rarely been documented as the cause of infectious endocarditis in literature. Here we report the first case of infectious endocarditis (IE) caused by H. massiliensis in China. Case presentation A 44-year-old woman presented to the infectious department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Beijing) in August 2013, with a 7-week history of fevers, chills, sore throat, muscular soreness, occasional joint pain, and cough. The organism obtained by blood culture, identified as H. massiliensis by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, was finally implicated as the cause of infectious endocarditis. The patient was cured with amoxicillin/clavulanate combined with amikacin for 6 weeks. Conclusion This is the first case report in China, of the isolation of H. massiliensis from the bloodstream of a patient with endocarditis. The microbiology and clinical study of the organism will help us understand it better in future clinical practice.