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Case Report
Plesiomonas shigelloides Septic Shock Leading to
Death of Postsplenectomy Patient with Pyruvate Kinase
Deficiency and Hemochromatosis
Copyright © 2016 Mohammed Samannodi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Although Plesiomonas shigelloides, a water-borne bacterium of the Enterobacteriaceae family, usually causes self-limiting
gastroenteritis with diarrhea, several cases of sepsis have been reported. We report the case of a 43-year-old male patient with
hemochromatosis, pyruvate kinase deficiency, and asplenia via splenectomy who developed septic shock caused by P. shigelloides
complicated by respiratory failure, renal failure, liver failure, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Early aggressive
antimicrobial therapy and resuscitation measures were unsuccessful and the patient passed away. We kindly suggest clinicians
to implement early diagnosis of septic shock, empirical coverage with antibiotics, and prompt volume resuscitation based on the
high mortality rate of P. shigelloides bacteremia.
Table 1: Minimal inhibitory concentrations of various antibiotics thalassemia intermedia, hemochromatosis, and sickle beta-
for Plesiomonas shigelloides. zero thalassemia [10, 13, 15]. Another study demonstrated
that P. shigelloides uses heme as a source of iron and it
Antibiotics Minimal inhibitory concentrations (mg/mL)
had been hypothesized that chronic iron overload in said
Cefepime ≤1 conditions can predispose patients to infections [13, 15, 17].
Ceftriaxone ≤1 We recommend further studies to be performed in the
Ciprofloxacin ≤0.25 future particularly to establish the association between P.
Gentamicin 4 shigelloides’ heme use system and the effect of chronic iron
Imipenem ≤0.25 overload relating to infections.
Levofloxacin ≤0.12 Bacteremia caused by Plesiomonas shigelloides is a very
Piperacillin/tazobac ≤4 rare complication with 36 reported cases worldwide includ-
Tobramycin 2 ing this presented case [7, 8, 10, 11, 13–16]. However, out of
Trimethoprim/sulfa ≤20
those 36 cases, 16 patients expired, which demonstrates a
mortality rate of 44%. The majority of cases of P. shigelloides
sepsis involve neonates and patients with immunocompro-
mising conditions such as leukemia, immunosuppression
showing high anion gap metabolic acidosis. Electrocardio- after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, and HIV [7–
gram showed only sinus tachycardia. Transthoracic echocar- 16]. Based on the nature of these patients and the high mor-
diogram was unremarkable. Computed tomograms of head, tality rate associated with P. shigelloides bacteremia, we highly
chest, and abdomen were unremarkable. Two blood cultures recommend early diagnosis of septic shock and early admin-
and urine culture were performed. The patient was diagnosed istration of antimicrobials and volume resuscitation. While
with septic shock. our patient did not survive even with multiple antibiotic
Aggressive volume resuscitation measures were started therapy and resuscitation methods, the risks of bacteremia
along with empiric coverage utilizing intravenous ceftri- and septic shock still merit a very similar aggressive approach
axone and vancomycin. The patient developed respiratory to treatment.
failure soon after. Because of worsening renal failure, he Finally, although this was not done at the time, we suggest
also later underwent hemodialysis. On the second day of that systemic corticosteroid administration may also be
admission, the blood cultures returned and showed gram beneficial in cases of refractory shock. Septicemia, especially
negative rods while the urine culture was negative. Total in association with septic shock, has been known to cause
iron and ferritin were performed and returned 196 𝜇g/dL adrenal infraction leading to adrenal insufficiency [18].
and 1350.2 mg/mL respectively. Disseminated intravascular
coagulopathy developed (PTT 74.2 seconds, PT 37.1 seconds, Disclosure
INR 3.2 U/I, fibrinogen 40 mg/dL, fibrinogen degradation
products 60 𝜇g/mL, and platelets 55) and the multiorgan This case was presented as a poster in the 2015 New York
failure continued to worsen. As the patient’s condition Chapter ACP Annual Scientific Meeting Poster Competition
continued to deteriorate, levofloxacin and tobramycin were and was later published in the poster book as a Resident
added to the ongoing antibiotic therapy. Using VITEK2 for Fellow Clinical Vignette.
microbial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing,
the final blood culture identified the gram negative rods as Competing Interests
Plesiomonas shigelloides. The organism was found to be sus-
ceptible to a multitude of different antibiotics including the The authors (Mohammed Samannodi, Andrew Zhao, Yaser
patient’s regimen of ceftriaxone, levofloxacin, and tobramycin Nemshah, and Kevin Shiley) declare that there are no com-
(Table 1). Despite aggressive attempts at resuscitation, the peting interests regarding the publication of this paper.
patient’s condition further worsened and he passed away on
the third day of hospitalization.
References
[1] R. A. Brenden, M. A. Miller, and J. M. Janda, “Clinical disease
3. Discussion spectrum and pathogenic factors associated with Plesiomonas
shigelloides infections in humans,” Reviews of Infectious Dis-
In this case report, the patient had three possible sources for eases, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 303–316, 1988.
P. shigelloides infection: the addition of a new puppy, recent [2] M. L. Miller and J. A. Koburger, “Plesiomonas shigelloides: an
consumption of clams, and illegal swimming in Lake Erie. opportunistic food and waterborne pathogen,” Journal of Food
In addition, he also had a medical history of homozygous Protection, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 449–457, 1985.
hereditary hemochromatosis and pyruvate kinase deficiency [3] J. Janda and S. Abbott, The Enterobacteria, ASM Press, Wash-
which led to a splenectomy during childhood. The latter ington, DC, USA, 2006.
condition played a role by increasing the patient’s risk [4] T. Arai, N. Ikejima, T. Itoh, S. Sakai, T. Shimada, and R.
of infection while compromising his immune response to Sakazaki, “A survey of Plesiomonas shigelloides from aquatic
bacteria. The former pointed towards previous cases that also environments, domestic animals, pets and humans,” Journal of
involved patients with haematological conditions, including Hygiene, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 203–211, 1980.
Case Reports in Infectious Diseases 3
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