Bacteremia Due toPasteurella dagmatisAcquired from a Dog Bite, with a Review of Systemic Infections and Challenges in Laboratory Identification

Abstract

A case of bacteremia in a 74-year-old man, which was caused byPasteurella dagmatisand complicated by thrombocytopenia, is presented. Microorganism identification was performed by the provincial reference laboratory using traditional biochemical profiling, completmented with both the sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry; antibiotic-susceptibility testing was also performed. After treatment with the appropriate antibiotics, the patient fully recovered. Systemic infections attributed to this organism are rarely reported in the literature. Other reported cases of bacteremia due toP dagmatisare reviewed and compared with the present case. The challenges of relying on standard automatic identification are discussed, with alternative methodologies provided.