1. Mycoplasma penetrans bacteremia in an immunocompromised patient detected by metagenomic sequencing: a case report
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Denise Vorburger, Benjamin Preiswerk, Rico Hömke, Karoline Wagner, Frank Imkamp, Peter M. Keller, and University of Zurich
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0301 basic medicine ,Sexually transmitted disease ,DNA Mutational Analysis ,Immune deficiency ,Bacteremia ,Case Report ,medicine.disease_cause ,law.invention ,0302 clinical medicine ,law ,Blood culture ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Respiratory Tract Infections ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,biology ,10174 Clinic for Gynecology ,Mycoplasma penetrans ,Infectious Diseases ,Gram staining ,Female ,Pancreas Transplantation ,medicine.symptom ,Fastidious organism ,Adult ,610 Medicine & health ,lcsh:Infectious and parasitic diseases ,Microbiology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Immunocompromised Host ,HIV Seronegativity ,medicine ,Humans ,lcsh:RC109-216 ,Vaginal bleeding ,Mycoplasma Infections ,business.industry ,Mycoplasma ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,2725 Infectious Diseases ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Kidney Transplantation ,030104 developmental biology ,Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ,Metagenome ,570 Life sciences ,Metagenomics ,business ,Metagenomic sequencing - Abstract
Background Mycoplasma sp. are well recognized as etiological agents of respiratory and sexually transmitted disease. Mycoplasma penetrans, a species of Mycoplasma sp., has been frequently detected in HIV-positive patients and associated with the progression of HIV-associated disease. To date, there is only a single case report describing M. penetrans as the causative agent of a severe respiratory tract infection in a HIV-negative patient. Case presentation In this report, we describe the case of M. penetrans bacteremia in a HIV-negative, 38-year-old, female, immunocompromised, solid organ transplant patient (combined kidney and pancreas transplantation in 2016), who was admitted to our hospital with anemic uterine bleeding and fever of 38.3 °C. Several hours before her admission at our university hospital, a latex bladder catheter was inserted into her uterus and she complained about fatigue, dizziness and ongoing vaginal bleeding. Laboratory examination showed severe anemia, but microbiological examination was inconspicuous (culture negative vaginal and cervical smears, negative urine culture). Bacterial blood cultures showed a growth signal after 4 h, but microscopic examination with Gram staining and subcultures on different agar media did not identify bacterial pathogens. To identify the bacterial cause of malignancy in the patient, metagenomic sequencing of the blood culture was performed that identified M. penetrans. Conclusion Metagenomic sequencing identified M. penetrans in an immunosuppressed patient with culture-negative bacteremia. Clinicians should be aware of the opportunistic potential of M. penetrans that may cause severe infections in certain vulnerable patient populations and the limitations of culture and Gram staining for confirming the presence of fastidious bacterial pathogens like Mycoplasma spp.
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