Jihye Ha1, Yu Jin Park1, Yee Jeong Kim2, Hyun Cheol Oh3, Young Ah Kim4
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Departments of 2Pathology, 3Orthopedic Surgery, 4Laboratory Medicine, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea
Bacillus cereus is a widespread organism in nature and a member of the B. cereus group of catalase- positive, aerobic, spore-forming, Gram-positive bacilli. B. cereus found in blood is often dismissed as a contaminant in the absence of repeated isolation from multiple cultures. Soft tissue and bone infection due to B. cereus have been associated with trauma, intravenous drug use, and an immunocompromised state. We report a very late prosthetic joint infection of the hip joint and consequent bacteremia caused by B. cereus, which occurred 13 years after total hip replacement surgery in the absence of recent trauma or intervention. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2016;19:54-57)