A case of bacteremia caused by Hafnia paralvei

Abstract

The genus Hafnia, a member of the Enterobacteriaceae, is widespread in nature and rarely causes human infection. We describe a case of an 85-year-old Japanese man hospitalized consequent to suspected cholecystitis, in which Hafnia sp. was recovered from the blood culture concomitantly with Enterococcus faecalis. Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence and phenotyping with ID 32 E revealed that the recovered Hafnia sp. was considered to be Hafnia alvei genomosp. 2 (ATCC 29927), recently reclassified as Hafnia paralvei. The patient recovered uneventfully with antimicrobial therapies.