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. 2017 Nov 24;5(4):2324709617744233.
doi: 10.1177/2324709617744233. eCollection 2017 Oct-Dec.

Recurrent Lactobacillus Bacteremia in a Patient With Leukemia

Paurush Ambesh  1 , Sarah Stroud  1 , Eva Franzova  1 , Joseph Gotesman  1 , Kavita Sharma  1 , Lawrence Wolf  1 , Stephan Kamholz  1
Affiliations

Recurrent Lactobacillus Bacteremia in a Patient With Leukemia

Paurush Ambesh et al. J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep. .

Abstract

Lactobacillus species are a commensal flora of the human gastrointestinal and the female genitourinary tract. Lactobacilli especially the rhamnosus species, are common components of commercial probiotics. They are rarely associated with pathology in immunocompetent people, but they have been known to cause dental caries, bacteremia, and endocarditis in patients with suppressed immune function. Cases of Lactobacillus bacteremia have been reported in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, large granular lymphocytic leukemia, and in transplant recipients. In this article, we report a strange case of recurrent Lactobacillus bacteremia causing multiple episodes of fever of unknown origin in a patient with leukemia. This report is unique as Lactobacillus is not recognized as a common source of bacteremia. Moreover, the source of the bacillus continued to elude us even after extensive investigation.

Keywords: Lactobacillus bacteremia; leukemia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Nuclear medicine gallium scan did not localize any focus of infection.
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