Clinical Features of Community-Acquired Helicobacter cinaedi Bacteremia.

BACKGROUND

There are growing numbers of reports concerning the clinical and pathological features of Helicobacter cinaedi (H. cinaedi) bacteremia; however, few reports have discussed the features of this condition in healthy individuals.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

A retrospective observational study was conducted at a Japanese tertiary care hospital to assess the clinical features of community-acquired H. cinaedi. All patients in whom H. cinaedi was isolated between January 2009 and March 2014 were identified from the hospital database.

RESULTS

Of the 28 patients included in the study, 12 had community-acquired H. cinaedi bacteremia. The most common clinical feature was cellulitis (n = 17). However, nearly half of the patients with healthcare-associated or nosocomial-associated bacteremia displayed no symptoms with the exception of fever. Most patients were successfully treated with a 14-day regime of third-generation cephalosporins or tetracycline.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that H. cinaedi infections are quite common in immunocompetent community-dwelling individuals.