Clinical Features of Community-Acquired Helicobacter cinaedi Bacteremia

Abstract

Background: There are growing numbers of reports concerning the clinical and pathological features of Helicobacter cinaedi (H. cinaedi) bacteremia; however, few reports have discussed the features of this condition in healthy individuals.

Patients and methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a Japanese tertiary care hospital to assess the clinical features of community-acquired H. cinaedi. All patients in whom H. cinaedi was isolated between January 2009 and March 2014 were identified from the hospital database.

Results: Of the 28 patients included in the study, 12 had community-acquired H. cinaedi bacteremia. The most common clinical feature was cellulitis (n = 17). However, nearly half of the patients with healthcare-associated or nosocomial-associated bacteremia displayed no symptoms with the exception of fever. Most patients were successfully treated with a 14-day regime of third-generation cephalosporins or tetracycline.

Conclusions: Our results show that H. cinaedi infections are quite common in immunocompetent community-dwelling individuals.

Keywords: Helicobacter cinaedi; bacteremia; community-acquired.