Streptococcus suis and an Incidentally Diagnosed Metastatic Colon Cancer

Abstract

Background: Streptococcus suis is a zoonotic infection known to cause meningitis and sepsis, in addition to several other rare manifestations. Infection with this organism is rare in the absence of pork ingestion or a handling history. Case presentation: The authors report the case of a 62-year-old male with no animal contact history, who presented with symptoms of urinary tract infection. It was his second infection over the course of 2 years. His urine culture was positive for Escherichia coli but his blood culture was positive for S. suis. Ultrasound of the abdomen ruled out underlying predisposing urinary pathology. However, it did show several heterogeneous liver masses with abnormal vascularity. A follow-up abdominal CT revealed a malignant neoplastic process involving the sigmoid colon with metastatic liver lesions. Colonoscopy demonstrated a fungating mass at the sigmoid colon and biopsies revealed a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: This case suggests the possibility of associated colon cancer in patients presenting with S. suis with no explicit history of animal or pork contact. It also proposes the existence of an association between colon cancer with Streptococcus species other than bovis.

A Streptococcus suis infection causing pneumonia in Indonesia: A case report

“…Patients with diabetes mellitus, asplenia, alcoholism, and malignancy are at high risk for S. suis infection [2 , 6 , 9] . However, it is strongly urged to rule out other explanations for a malignancy that resembles an immunocompromised state in patients with no history of such high-risk contact, either directly or through the cross-contamination of raw pork and meat [10] .…”