Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2013 | Case report
Granulicatella bacteraemia in children: two cases and review of the literature
Published in: BMC Pediatrics | Issue 1/2013
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Background
Granulicatella spp. is a fastidious bacteria responsible for bacteremia and endocarditis which are fatal in about 20% of the cases. These severe infections are uncommon in children under 17 years of age and have proven extremely difficult to treat.
Cases presentation
We report a brief review of the literature and two cases of NVS bacteremia by Granulicatella complicated by infective endocarditis (IE). The first one is that of a 7-year-old Caucasian female with Shone syndrome and IE involving the pulmonary valve homograft, confirmed by echocardiography. The second case is that of a 5-year-old Caucasian male. In this patient echocardiogram was negative for signs of IE; however, a “possible” IE was suspected on the basis of a cardiac catheterization 3 weeks before the onset of fever. Since in both our patients clinical failure of first line antibiotic treatment was observed, we used a combination of meropenem with another anti-streptococcal drug with excellent results.
Conclusion
In Granulicatella bacteremia in the pediatric population, combination antimicrobial therapy including meropenem should be considered as a second line treatment in non-responding patients.