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Review
. 2019 Jan 14;19(1):50.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-3686-z.

Infection due to Mycoplasma hominis after left hip replacement: case report and literature review

Lili Xiang  1   2 , Binghuai Lu  3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Infection due to Mycoplasma hominis after left hip replacement: case report and literature review

Lili Xiang et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Hip replacement is generally conducted in those with prolonged arthritis pain or hip fractures, and postoperative infection is a serious complication. Mycoplasma hominis, belonging to mycoplasma species, exists mainly in the genitourinary tract. M. hominis infection after total hip replacement was rarely documented in literature.

Case presentation: A 59-year-old male was febrile after left total hip replacement. Empiric therapy with cefepime for suspected infection was ineffective. Specimens at the infection site were collected for culture, and pinpoint colonies grew after incubation at 35 °C for 48 h on blood agar plate. They grew to approximately 0.5 mm colonies in diameter after 7-day incubation, and were identified as M. hominis. Sequentially, combination therapy with clindamycin hydrochloride and moxifloxacin was initiated, and the patient defervesced within 3 days and was discharged home.

Conclusions: The study highlighted the potential pathogenicity of M. hominis in postoperative infection. The possibility of this microorganism involvement should be valued if the patients who experienced the hip or joint replacement had inexplicable fever.

Keywords: Hip replacement; Mycoplasma hominis; Postoperative infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The institutional review boards at the Chongqing Shapingba District Chenjiaqiao hospital approved the study protocol.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and any accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the editor of this journal.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Fractures of left femoral neck under X-ray at admission. b Prosthetic hip in right position (2 h after hip replacement under X-ray). c Redness and swelling around surgical site, wound fluctuation in palpation (8 days after surgery). d Recovered after anti- M. hominis treatment with the combination of moxifloxacin, and doxycycline (18 days after surgery). e After 7 day of incubation of subcutaneous fluid collected during debridement on blood agar at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere, tiny, nonhemolytic, transparent colonies grew on Columbia blood agar plate. f Fried-egg-type colonies of Mycoplasma hominis on solid media 5 days after subculture
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relationship between the change of inflammatory markers (WBC, ESR and CRP) and the use of antibiotics during hospitalization. PMN: Polymorphonuclear leucocyte; ESR: erythrocyte sedimentation rate; WBC: White blood cells
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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