[Sepsis caused by Yersinia enterocolitica in a female patient with liver cirrhosis].

As a primarily intestinal pathogen. Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. e.) may cause generalized infection in patients with malignant and other serious diseases or immunodeficient subjects. In certain conditions, elevated serum and tissue iron concentrations represent an additional risk factor for systemic infection with this opportunistic bacterium. In our patient, Y. e. septicemia developed during liver cirrhosis decompensation. Clinical signs of infection were alleviated by appropriate antibiotic therapy (gentamycin, cefuroxime), but as septicemia had been present for several days prior to therapy, it aggravated the patient's general condition, which entailed the development of hepatorenal syndrome and eventually lethal outcome.