Annals of Clinical Microbiology, The official Journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology

Isolation of Haemophilus aphrophilus and Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci from the Blood of a Patient with Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis

Case report

Annals of Clinical Microbiology (Ann Clin Microbiol) 2006 April Volume 9, Issue 1, pages  71-75.


https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2006.09.1.71

Isolation of Haemophilus aphrophilus and Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci from the Blood of a Patient with Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis

Chang Ki Kim1 , Injoo Cho1 , Youn Hee Park1, Kyoung Ho Roh1, Dongeun Yong1,3,4, Kyungwon Lee1,3,4 , June Myung Kim2,3,4, and Yunsop Chong1,3
Departments of Laboratory Medicine1, Internal Medicine2; Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance3; and Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Sciences4, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Haemophilus aphrophilus is a facultative anaerobic, gram-negative coccobacillus or bacillus and its growth is stimulated by 5 to 10% CO2 . Most Haemophilus species require either exogenous X or V factor or both to grow, but H. aphrophilus can grow without these factors. H. aphrophilus rarely causes invasive infections such as endocarditis, septicemia, pneumonia and peritonitis in human. Two cases of infective endocarditis by H. aphrophilus have been reported in Korea. However, there has been no report of polymicrobial endocarditis by H. aphrophilus and other bacteria. We isolated H. aphrophilus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) from the blood of a 38-year-old woman with prosthetic valve endocarditis. She underwent an emergent operation and a culture of the prosthetic valve grew H. aphrophilus. Brain abscess was developed at hospital day 11. H. aphrophilus was susceptible to all antibiotics tested such as ampicillin and cefotaxime, and CNS was susceptible to oxacillin and vancomycin. The patient responded well to therapy with ceftriaxone, teicoplanin, and gentamicin. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2006;9(1):71-75)

Keywords

Haemophilus aphrophilus, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Endocarditis