Clostridium cadaveris: an unusual cause of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

Abstract

Bacterial peritonitis has been known to complicate severe liver disease. Aerobic organisms are responsible for the vast majority of cases, whereas anaerobic bacteria are responsible for less than 5% of all cases reported in the literature. We now report a case of Clostridium cadaveris anaerobic bacterial peritonitis in a 58-yr-old female, an organism that to our knowledge has not been previously implicated as an infectious agent in this entity.