CASE REPORT: A 54-year-old male patient was hospitalized after a trip to Malaysia with strong greenish watery diarrhea and chills. On physical examination we saw a dehydrated patient in severely reduced general condition. The stool frequency was 30/d. The laboratory examinations only showed elevated parameters of inflammation. Plesiomonas shigelloides was cultivated in the stool cultures. With appropriate substitution of fluid and electrolytes, and antidiarrheal therapy the patient resumed a normal diet without any complications. Three days later his bowel movements were normal and his general condition was greatly improved. We withheld antibiotic therapy because of the noncomplicated course of illness.
CONCLUSION: In Germany infections with Plesiomonas shigelloides are rare, an increase is observed because of increasing tourism to tropical regions. The course of infection is sometimes asymptomatic, but usually patients develop an acute gastroenteritis. Especially immunocompromised patients can show serious courses of infection. Plesiomonas shigelloides should be included in the differential diagnosis of acute gastroenteritis after journeys to tropical regions. Some of our patients, however, denied traveling to tropical regions. They also denied consuming seafood, which indicates a risk of infection in Germany. Still an infection with Plesiomonas shigelloides seems to be rare in northern European countries.
METHODS: A retrospective record review of all CAPD patients on follow-up at the Miri Hospital, Sarawak, Malaysia from 2014 until 2017 was done.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: During the 4-year period, the overall peritonitis rate was 0.184 episodes per patient-year. Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria each constituted one-third of the peritonitis; fungi (2.6%), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) (5.3%), polymicrobial (2.6%) and sterile culture (26.3%). The most commonly isolated gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Our peritonitis rate is comparable to that of other centres i.e., Japan 0.195 and Indonesia 0.25. In comparison, countries like India (0.41), Korea (0.40) and Singapore (0.59) had relatively higher rate of PD-associated peritonitis. Two tuberculosis peritonitis patients died. The rate of catheter removal was approximately 20%. Gram-negative bacteria and MTB have a higher risk of catheter loss. About one-fifth used rainwater to clean their CAPD exit site. Out of this group, 33% did not boil the rainwater prior to usage.
CONCLUSION: Patient's characteristics and microbial susceptibility vary in different places of practice. The high rates of culture-negative peritonitis and high mortality risks associated with TB peritonitis warrant special attention. In patients with refractory peritonitis, early catheter removal is warranted in order to reduce mortality and minimize damage to peritoneal membrane.