International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume 14 , Pages e335-e337 , September 2010

Clostridium tertium bacteremia: contamination or true pathogen? A report of two cases and a review of the literature

  • Maud Vanderhofstadt

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oncology and Hematology, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Marc André

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oncology and Hematology, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Christophe Lonchay

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oncology and Hematology, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Pierre Levecque

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Xavier Holemans

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Jean-Luc Canon

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oncology and Hematology, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • ,
  • Lionel D’Hondt

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oncology and Hematology, Grand Hôpital de Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Current address: Department of Oncology, Cliniques Universitaires UCL de Mont-Godinne, B-5530 Yvoir, Belgium. Tel.: +32 81 42 38 58; fax: +32 81 42 38 32.

Received 9 December 2009 ,Accepted 3 March 2010.

References 

  1. King BM, Ranck BA, Daugherty FD, Rau CA. Clostridium tertium septicemia. N Engl J Med. 1963;269:467–469
  2. Miller DL, Brazer S, Murdoch D, Reller B, Corey R. Significance of Clostridium tertium bacteremia in neutropenic and non neutropenic patients: review of 32 cases. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;32:975–978
  3. Tappe D, Dirks J, Müller R, Brederlau J, Abele-Horn M, Suberbaum S. Fatal Clostridium tertium septicaemia in a non neutropenic patient. J Infect. 2005;50:76–80
  4. Thaler M, Gill V, Pizzo PA. Emergence of Clostridium tertium as pathogen in neutropenic patient. Am J Med. 1986;81:596–600
  5. Leegaard TM, Sandven P, Gaustad P. Clostridium tertium: 3 case reports. Scand J Infect Dis. 2005;37:230–240
  6. Gosbell IB, Johnson CG, Newton PJ, Jelfs J. Clostridium tertium bacteremia: 2 cases and review. Pathology. 1996;28:70–73
  7. Speirs G, Warren RE, Rampling A. Clostridium tertium septicemia in patient with neutropenia. J Infect Dis. 1988;158:1336–1340
  8. Ray P, Das A, Singh K, Bhansali A, Yadav TD. Clostridium tertium in necrotizing fasciitis and gangrene. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:1347–1348
  9. Valtonen M, Sivonen A, Elonen E. A cluster of seven cases of Clostridium tertium septicemia in neutropenic patient. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1990;9:40–42
  10. Severin A, Paulet R, Berth A, Balgone L, Coudray JM, Thyrault M. Pancréatite aiguë compliquée d’une septicémie à Clostridium tertium. Presse Med. 2005;34:446–447
  11. Steyaert S, Peleman R, Vaneechoutte M, De Baere T, Claeys G, Verschraegen G. Septicemia in neutropenic patients infected with Clostridium tertium resistant to cefepime and other expanded-spectrum cephalosporins. J Clin Microbiol. 1999;37:3778–3779
  12. Gredlein CM, Silverman ML, Downey MS. Polymicrobial septic arthritis due to Clostridium species: case report and review. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30:590–594
  13. Rampling A, Speirs G, Warren RE. Clostridium tertium and the gut. Lancet. 1988;1:534
  14. Gorbach SL, Thadepalli H. Isolation of Clostridium in human infections: evaluation of 114 cases. J Infect Dis. 1975;131:S81–S85

PII: S1201-9712(10)02385-4

doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2010.03.004

International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume 14 , Pages e335-e337 , September 2010

Article Tools