Eikenella Corrodens Vertebral Osteomyelitis in a Young Patient With Type I Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Vertebral osteomyelitis is an uncommon variant of osteomyelitis. Although Staphylococcus and/or Streptococcus are commonly associated, alternate pathogens have been implicated in vertebral osteomyelitis, especially in endemic areas and/or immunocompromised patients. Here, we present a case of a young African American female with type I diabetes mellitus who presented to us with worsening back pain. The MRI lumbar spine was suggestive of vertebral osteomyelitis involving the right facet joint of the fifth lumbar (L5) and the first spinal (S1) joint and a significant narrowing of the thecal sac at the L4-L5 vertebral level with an anterior epidural abscess. The patient was started on empirical antibiotics, and surgical intervention was performed with L4-L5 laminectomy and extraction of the epidural abscess. Her pus culture showed Eikenella corrodens as a possible cause of vertebral osteomyelitis. She had an uneventful recovery after two weeks of antibiotics (intravenous ceftriaxone) therapy.

Lumbar Spine Infection with Eikenella corrodens Presented as Abdominal Pain: A Case Report and Literature Review

“…Reviewing these orthopaedic-related infection cases, only five cases 11,[19][20][21][22] had not found clear potential causative factors and 11 cases 7,8,[12][13][14][15][16]18,[23][24][25] had revealed clear potential risks of patients. In the present case, the patient did not report any underlying diseases, fishbone stuck, invasive treatment, licking of wounds, and trauma.…”

“…This kind of bacteria can lead to endocarditis, NSI, osteomyelitis, perirenal abscess and so on. [4][5][6][7][8] For the past several decades, there were 16 cases of orthopaedic-related infections caused by Eikenella corrodens (Table 1 and Table 2). In these cases, since the blood culture was hard to confirm Eikenella corrodens, clinicians faced great challenges in early diagnosis.…”

Bacteremia caused by Eikenella corrodens in a patient with pelvic inflammatory disease

“…In addition, E. corrodens present low rates of in vitro susceptibility to to erythromycin and aminoglycosides. However, despite appropriate and indolent, invasive and recurrent infections, such perirenal abscesses, vertebral osteomyelitis or endocarditis have been reported; [4][5][6]. Gynaecological infections such as chorioamnionitis or tubo-ovarian abscesses caused by E. corrodens are rare, but these have been described mostly in women using IUD [7][8][9].…”