Septicemia hemorrágica y empiema pleural por Pasteurella canis / Pasteurella canis hemorragic sepsis and empyema

We report the case of a 56-year-old female patient, with a three-day history of hematemesis, melena, abdominal wall hematoma and epistaxis associated with thrombocytopenia and anemia. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura was diagnosed and she was treated with dexamethasone for four days. The patient developed acute respiratory failure with signs of systemic inflammatory response. Blood and pleural fluid cultures grew Pasteurella canis. This is the first case, to our knowledge, of P. canis empyema associated with hemorrhagic septicemia without epidemiological background and the third case of septicemia caused by P. canis reported in the literature.

Comunicamos el caso de una mujer de 56 años de edad, con un cuadro clínico de tres días de evolución caracterizado por hematemesis, melena, hematoma en la pared abdominal y epistaxis, asociado a trombocitopenia y anemia. Con un probable diagnóstico de un púrpura trombocitopénico idiopático, se trató con dexametasona por cuatro días. Evolucionó con una insuficiencia respiratoria aguda con signos de respuesta inflamatoria sistémica, por un empiema pleural izquierdo con aislamiento de Pasteurella canis en hemocultivos y líquido pleural. Este es el primer caso, según nuestro conocimiento, de un empiema por P. canis asociado a una septicemia hemorrágica, sin antecedentes epidemiológicos; y tercero de una sepsis por P. canis publicado en el mundo.

Molecular heterogeneity of plpE gene in Indian isolates of Pasteurella multocida and expression of recombinant PlpE in vaccine strain of P. multocida serotype B: 2

Outer membrane proteins of Pasteurella (P.) multocida have been known to be protective immunogens. Pasteurella lipoprotein E (PlpE) has been reported to be an important cross reactive outer membrane protein in P. multocida. The gene encoding the PlpE of P. multocida serotypes A: 3, B: 2 and D: 1 was amplified from the genomic DNA. The amplified products were cloned and the nucleotide sequence was determined. Sequence analysis of the recombinant clones revealed a single open reading frame of 1,011 bp, 1,008 bp and 1,017 bp encoding a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 37.829 kDa, 37.389 kDa and 37.965 kDa for serotypes A: 3, B: 2 and D: 1 respectively. The comparison of the plpE sequence in different capsular types revealed a high degree (>90%) of homology. Furthermore, the plpE gene of Haemorhhagic septicaemia causing serotype (B: 2) was expressed in E. coli and recombinant PlpE was strongly immunostained by antiserum against whole cell antigen, indicating that the protein is expressed in vivo.