title: Chromobacterium violaceum infection in Brazil. A case report.
abstract: We report the second case of infection with Chromobacterium violaceum that occurred in Brazil. A farm worker living in the State of São Paulo presented fever and severe abdominal pain for four days. At hospitalization the patient was in a toxemic state and had a distended and painful abdomen. Chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound revealed bilateral pneumonia and hypoechoic areas in the liver. The patient developed failure of multiple organs and died a few hours later. Blood culture led to isolation of C. violaceum resistant to ampicillin and cephalosporins and sensitive to chloramphenicol, tetracyclin, aminoglicosydes, and ciprofloxacin. Autopsy revealed pulmonary microabscesses and multiple abscesses in the liver. The major features of this case are generally observed in infections by C. violaceum: rapid clinical course, multiple visceral abscesses, and high mortality. Because of the antimicrobial resistance profile of this Gram-negative bacillus, for appropriate empirical antibiotic therapy it is important to consider chromobacteriosis in the differential diagnosis of severe community infections in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Divisão de Doenças Infecciosas e Tropicais, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Velludo
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: P V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Dinamarco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002861:Chromobacterium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008100:Liver Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents