ABSTRACT
Q fever is a worldwide zoonosis caused by an intracellular bacillus named Coxiella burnetii (CB) and is a rare cause of vascular infections. We report a case of abdominal aortic aneurysm infected by CB with bilateral paravertebral abscesses and contiguous spondylodiscitis treated by open repair using a cryopreserved allograft and long-term antibiotic therapy by oral doxycycline and oral hydroxychloroquine for a duration of 18 months. Twenty months after the operation, the patient had no infections signs and vascular complication.
Subject(s)
Aneurysm, Infected/surgery , Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal/surgery , Bioprosthesis , Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation/instrumentation , Blood Vessel Prosthesis , Coxiella burnetii/isolation & purification , Cryopreservation , Q Fever/surgery , Administration, Oral , Aged, 80 and over , Allografts , Aneurysm, Infected/diagnostic imaging , Aneurysm, Infected/microbiology , Aneurysm, Infected/transmission , Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage , Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal/diagnostic imaging , Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal/microbiology , Aortography/methods , Doxycycline/administration & dosage , Drug Administration Schedule , Humans , Hydroxychloroquine/administration & dosage , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Q Fever/diagnostic imaging , Q Fever/microbiology , Q Fever/transmission , Time Factors , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Fungal infections remain among the main causes of mortality in the chronically immunosuppressed liver transplant (LT) patient. Bacterial and fungal contamination of preservation fluid (PF), in which grafts are stored, represents a potential source of infection for recipients. CASE REPORT: A 54-year-old patient underwent LT for chronic alcoholic cirrhosis. Mycological culture of the liver PF was positive for Candida albicans. The patient received antimycotic prophylaxis for 4 weeks in absence of clinical and serological signs of infection. He was urgently readmitted 4 months later with hemobilia caused by an arterial pseudoaneurysm that was fistulized in the biliary anastomosis. After an unsuccessful embolization, arterial resection and reconstruction and a biliodigestive anastomosis were performed, with an uneventful postoperative course. Pathology found a mycotic arteritis of the graft artery. Mycotic culture of the arterial segment confirmed the presence of the same Candida albicans genotype previously isolated in the PF. CONCLUSIONS: Mycotic arteritis is one of the possible complications of yeast contamination of PF. Surgeons and physicians involved in the care of LT patients should be aware of this potentially lethal complication and adopt all the available means for early detection.
