Two cases of severe sepsis caused by Bacillus pumilus in neonatal infants

Maria Kimouli, Georgia Vrioni, Magdalini Papadopoulou, Vasiliki Koumaki, Dimitra Petropoulou, Antonios Gounaris, Alexander W. Friedrich, Athanassios Tsakris

¹Department of Microbiology, Saint Panteleimon General Hospital, Nicea, Greece

²Department of Microbiology, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

³Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Saint Panteleimon General Hospital, Nicea, Greece

⁴Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands

Correspondence
Athanassios Tsakris atsakris{at}med.uoa.gr

Journal of Medical Microbiology 2012; 61(Pt 4):596–599 · https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.033175-0

Abstract

Bacillus pumilus is an environmental contaminant that has been rarely associated with clinical infections. Here, two cases of severe sepsis caused by B. pumilus are described in two full-term neonates; one in a female infant with no factors predisposing her to infection and the other in a male infant requiring mechanical ventilation and an intravenous catheter. In both cases, the micro-organism was recovered from repeated blood cultures and was identified using biochemical assays and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Both infants were successfully treated with vancomycin. This report reveals the potential role of B. pumilus as a bloodstream pathogen during infancy.