Severe Pneumonia and Sepsis Caused by <i>Dialister pneumosintes</i> in an Adolescent

• Main Authors: Maximilian Kaiser, Meike Weis, Katharina Kehr, Verena Varnholt, Horst Schroten, Tobias Tenenbaum
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Pathogens
• Subjects: <i>Dialister pneumosintes</i>; bacteremia; sepsis; pneumonia; children
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/10/6/733

Background: <i>Dialister pneumosintes</i> (<i>D. pneumosintes</i>) is known to cause dental, periodontal or sinus infections. To date, the pathogen has only been described in a small number of cases with a severe infection. Case report: We describe the clinical case of a 13-year-old, obese female patient that presented with acute respiratory failure and sepsis. A CT-scan showed extensive bilateral patchy areas, subpleural and peribronchovascular consolidations with surrounding ground-glass opacity, extensive consolidations in the lower lobes of both lungs matching to a severe pneumonia and clinically emerging acute respiratory distress syndrome. Moreover, it showed extensive sinusitis of the right sinus frontalis, maxillaris and right cellulae ethmoidales. <i>D. pneumosintes</i> was isolated from an anaerobic blood culture obtained at admission. The antibiotic treatment included piperacillin/tazobactam and oral switch to ampicillin/sulbactam plus ciprofloxacin. Conclusions: We describe the first adolescent with severe systemic <i>D. pneumosintes</i> infection. Since the pathogen is difficult to culture the systemic virulence remains unclear. This work aims to sensitize health care specialists to consider <i>D. pneumosintes</i> infection in patients with periodontal or sinusal infection.