Chromobacterium violaceum infection in Taiwan: a case report and literature review

Chromobacterium violaceum is a facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative bacillus which inhabits stagnant water in tropical and subtropical regions. We describe the case of an 80-year-old female patient with C. violaceum bacteremia due to traumatic wound infected by contaminated water and soil. She had persistent fever, hypotension and neutrophilic leukocytosis on admission. Two sets of blood cultures yielded C. violaceum. The patient was successfully treated with levofloxacin. Since the first case from Malaysia in 1927, about 150 cases have been reported in the world literature. To our knowledge, six other cases have been reported previously from Taiwan, including two children and four adults. Of the total of seven patients from Taiwan, four had a fatal outcome within several days, while the three survivors were apparently free of vital organ involvement. Although human infections caused by C. violaceum are rare, clinicians should be aware of this potentially fatal infection as part of the differential diagnosis of sepsis associated with a history of exposure to stagnant water.