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Case Reports
. 2022 Jun 17;14(6):e26053.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.26053. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Sphingobacterium Spritivorum Associated With Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in a Cirrhotic Patient With Gram-Positive Bacteremia

Gift Echefu  1 , Rameela Mahat  2 , Silpita Katragadda  2 , Karthik Reddy  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Sphingobacterium Spritivorum Associated With Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in a Cirrhotic Patient With Gram-Positive Bacteremia

Gift Echefu et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Sphingobacterium spritivorum (SS) is a ubiquitous gram-negative organism and an uncommon cause of infection in humans. To our knowledge, there are no reported cases of this bacterium causing spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in patients with cirrhosis. In this report, we discuss a case of a male patient in his late 60s who presented with severe sepsis from methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in whom SS was subsequently identified via ascitic fluid culture. This unusual organism is known to have an innate resistance to multiple antibiotics and can cause life-threatening sepsis in cases of delayed or missed diagnosis. Clinicians should not be weighed down by anchoring bias and look for alternative, uncommon gram-negative organisms in cases of progressive sepsis in patients with ascites.

Keywords: bacteremia; gram positive bacteremia; immunocompromised patient; sphingobacterium spiritivorum; spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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