Korean J Infect Dis.
1997 May;29(3):239-242.
A Case of Empyema Caused by Pasteurella Hemolytica
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Pathology, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. hhokee@unitel.co.kr
Abstract
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Pasteurellae are aerobic gram-negative coccobacillary organism and usually
pathogenic to domestic animal, but rarely to human beings. Human Pasteurella infections
are mostly caused by animal but occasionally happens without known history of animal
contacts. Pasteurella infection of human has been reported in numerous systems
including pneumonia, empyema, meningitis, peritonitis, bone and joint infection and
septicemia. This organism was difficult to identify because of its superficial resemblance
to other organism, until recently a new technique used a requirement of X, V factor is
developed. This organism is susceptible to many antimicrobial agents. A 55-year-old
man was admitted to Seoul Paik Hospital Inje University due to fever and pleuritic
chest pain for 2 weeks. He denied any animal contact history. Pasteurella hemolytica
was recovered from pleural effusion. This is the first case report of empyema caused by
Pasteurella hemolytica in Korea and provides another definitive causative organism of
empyema.