Vogesella urethralis-induced aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia in an elderly man: a first case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Vogesella species are common aquatic Gram-negative rods that were first reported in 1997. Vogesella urethralis bacterium was first isolated from human urine in 2020. Only two cases of disease caused by Vogesella species have been reported with no case of Vogesella urethralis-caused disease being reported as yet. Herein, we report a case of aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia caused by Vogesella urethralis. CASE PRESENTATION: An 82-year-old male patient was admitted with dyspnea, increased sputum production, and hypoxia. Gram-negative rods were isolated from the blood and sputum cultures of the patient. He was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia. Initially, Vogesella urethralis was wrongly identified as Comamonas testosteroni based on fully automated susceptibility testing; however, additional 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified the causative as Vogesella urethralis. The patient was treated with piperacillin and tazobactam. Unfortunately, he developed aspiration pneumonia again and died during hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Since no database exists for rare bacteria in traditional clinical microbiology laboratories, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis is useful. We report the first case of Vogesella urethralis-induced aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-023-08269-x.