Septicemia caused by Agrobacterium sp

Abstract

Agrobacterium radiobacter biovar 2 was repeatedly grown from the blood of an elderly patient receiving artificial ventilation and broad-spectrum antibiotics. No source of the organism was found, but the septicemia ceased when cefotaxime was given. Sera from the patient showed a fourfold rise in antibody against the organism and higher titers than sera from all but 1 of 50 healthy blood donors. The organism did not contain the plasmid associated with plant oncogenicity. This case may be only the second in which Agrobacterium sp. has been clearly linked with human infection.

Molecular Typing of Agrobacterium Species Isolates From Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections

“…5 Occasionally, 3-ketolactose-negative strains of biovars 2 and 3, now established as separate species and named A. rhizogenes and A. vitis, respectively, 6,7 have been isolated from clinical specimens but have not been further characterized. 8,9 We report the isolation of 3-ketolactose-positive and 3-ketolactose-negative Agrobacterium species bacteria from the blood and intravenous catheters of three patients and describe phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the isolates.…”

Case of bacterial endophthalmitis caused by an Agrobacterium radiobacter-like organism

“…Human infections with A. radiobacter are rare (1,7,11). These organisms have been isolated from urine (2), blood (3,4,6,8,14), peritoneal fluid (13,15), and central venous catheters (9,12). Thirty-eight strains available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (5) are from sputum (21%), genitourinary sites (10%), blood (10%), wounds (8%), eyes (8%), bronchial washings (5%), and other sites (39%); although no indication of a true etiologic relationship is available from the CDC isolates, such organisms isolated from blood should be considered potential etiologic agents until proven otherwise.…”

Catheter infection caused by an unusual pathogen, Agrobacterium radiobacter

“…Agrobacteria have occasionally been isolated from clinical specimens and classified as Vd-3 bacteria (18); nevertheless, only a few human infections have been reported (2,16,20,23).…”

“…In only two reports, a case of prosthetic valve endocarditis and another of septicemia, were Agrobacterium spp. considered pathogenic organisms (2,16).…”