Vagococcus fluvialis as a causative pathogen of bloodstream and decubitus ulcer infection: Case report and systematic review of the literature

• Published in: Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 359 - 363
• Main Authors: Matsuo, Takahiro, Mori, Nobuyoshi, Kawai, Fujimi, Sakurai, Aki, Toyoda, Makoto, Mikami, Yumiko, Uehara, Yuki, Furukawa, Keiichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Aged; Bacteremia; Case report; Decubitus ulcer; Enterococcaceae; Humans; Male; Pressure Ulcer - drug therapy; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Vagococcus fluvialis; MALDI-TOF MS; Case report; IV; Decubitus ulcer; Bacteremia; Vagococcus fluvialis
• ISSN: 1341-321X; 1437-7780
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2020.09.019

Vagococcal infections are uncommon in humans; there are limited studies on the clinical manifestations, the optimal methods for identifications, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing for vagococcal infections. Here, we have reported a case of Vagococcus fluvialis-induced bacteremia and decubitus ulcer and have systematically reviewed other reported Vagococcus infections. A 74-year-old man presented to our emergency department with muscle weakness on his left extremities, dysarthria, and altered mental status along with fever for the past 4 days. Physical examination revealed a decubitus ulcer with foul smelling and yellowish exudative pus on his left chest wall and abdomen, forearm, thigh, and lower leg. He was empirically treated with 2.25 mg of piperacillin/tazobactam every 8 hours and 0.5 g of vancomycin every 24 hours intravenously (IV) for his decubitus ulcer. Vagococcus fluvialis was detected in both aerobic and anaerobic blood cultures (upon admission) using the VITEC 2 GP ID card (bioMérieux) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). We continued the mentioned IV antimicrobial therapies for 4 weeks following which the patient was transferred to a long-term care facility for further rehabilitation. To our best knowledge, this is the first literature review of Vagococcus infections in humans. Since it is challenging to distinguish Vagococcus from Enterococcus by a conventional method due to the similarity of its biochemical properties to those of Enterococcus, based on our literature review, 16S rRNA sequencing or analysis of bacterial protein profile using MALDI-TOF MS may be useful for the precise identification.