Bacteremia due to Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides in a Patient with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract EN

Leuconostoc species are vancomycin-resistant Gram-positive cocci.

Infections due to Leuconostoc species have been reported in various immunocompromised patients, but little is known about such infection in patients with hematologic malignancies.

We report a case of Leuconostoc infection in a 44-year-old woman with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The patient developed a high fever despite antimicrobial therapy with doripenem after induction chemotherapy.

After an isolate from blood cultures was identified as L.

pseudomesenteroides, we changed the antibiotics to piperacillin-tazobactam and gentamicin, after which the patient recovered from the infection.

Physicians should be aware of Leuconostoc species as causative pathogen if they encounter Gram-positive cocci bacteremia resistant to standard antibiotics such as vancomycin and teicoplanin, especially in patients with hematologic malignancies.