Sphingomonas paucimobilis peritonitis : a case report and review of the literature

Abstract EN

Sphingomonas paucimobilis, a yellow-pigmented, aerobic, glucose non-fermenting, Gram-negative bacillus, is a rare cause of human infection normally associated with immunocompromised hosts.

It has been associated with a few cases of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (PD) and is notorious for its resistance to the commonly used antibiotics.

In half of the cases reported so far, the peritonitis was refractory to treatment, necessitating PD catheter removal.

We report a case of Sphingomonas paucimobilis peritonitis in a 50-year-old patient who had been on PD for two years.

The patient was successfully treated with intraperitoneal and intravenous antibiotics and the PD catheter was salvaged.