Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 6, 2022; 10(7): 2286-2293
Published online Mar 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i7.2286
Multiple skin abscesses associated with bacteremia caused by Burkholderia gladioli: A case report
Yi-Ting Wang, Xue-Wen Li, Pan-Yang Xu, Chun Yang, Jian-Cheng Xu
Yi-Ting Wang, Xue-Wen Li, Pan-Yang Xu, Chun Yang, Jian-Cheng Xu, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Laboratory Medicine, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Wang YT, Li XW, Xu PY, Yang C, and Xu JC performed the literature review, collected all the data related to the case report; Wang YT wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Jilin Science and Technology Development Program, No. 20190304110YY.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian-Cheng Xu, PhD, Chief Doctor, Deputy Director, Professor, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Laboratory Medicine, No. 1 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China. xjc@jlu.edu.cn
Received: September 13, 2021
Peer-review started: September 13, 2021
First decision: November 22, 2021
Revised: November 24, 2021
Accepted: January 22, 2022
Article in press: January 22, 2022
Published online: March 6, 2022
Processing time: 170 Days and 2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Burkholderia gladioli (B. gladioli) is regarded as a rare opportunistic pathogen. Only a few patients with abscesses caused by B. gladioli infections have been reported, and these are usually abscesses at the incision caused by traumatic surgery.

CASE SUMMARY

A 74-year-old male patient with abscesses and pain throughout his body for 1 mo was admitted to our hospital. Some of the abscesses had ruptured with purulent secretions on admission. Color Doppler ultrasound examination of the body surface masses showed mixed masses 75 mm × 19 mm, 58 mm × 17 mm, 17 mm × 7 mm, and 33 mm × 17 mm in size in the muscle tissues of both the right and left forearms, the posterior area of the right knee and the left leg, respectively. Abscess secretions and blood cultures grew B. gladioli. The following 3 methods were used to jointly identify the bacterium: an automatic microbial identification system, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and full-length 16S rDNA sequencing. After 27 d of treatment with meropenem, etimicin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and other antibiotics, most of his skin abscesses were flat and he was discharged without any symptoms.

CONCLUSION

This is the first reported case of multiple skin abscesses associated with bacteremia caused by B. gladioli. Our study provides important reference values for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of B. gladioli infections.

Keywords: Burkholderia gladioli; Multiple skin abscesses; Bacteremia; Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry; Case report

Core Tip: Burkholderia gladioli (B. gladioli) is a rare opportunistic pathogen. We report the first case of multiple skin abscesses caused by infection due to B. gladioli, and the relevant biological information, identification, and sensitivity to drugs, are also described in detail. The following three methods including an automatic microbial identification system, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and full-length 16S rDNA sequencing were jointly used to identify this bacterium. Therefore, the results obtained using the combination of these methods, were more accurate and reliable. This case provides a solid basis for the future clinical diagnosis and treatment of B. gladioli infections.