Infectious Spondylitis and Septicemia due to Lactococcus garvieae: a Literature Review of Non-Endocarditis Cases

Lactococci are Gram-positive cocci that occur in short chains or pairs and are traditionally considered to be of low virulence in human. Most species are not associated with human disease. There are few reports regarding Lactococcus isolation in humans and the clinical significance of this rarely-encountered genus is unknown. Here, we report a case of infectious spondylitis due to Lactococcus garvieae confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). A 77-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with back pain that had lasted 5 days. He had diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and histories of pulmonary tuberculosis and endovascular aneurysm repair due to an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Magnetic resonance imaging of his spine revealed paravertebral enhancement on T8-9 and a compression fracture on the lower endplate of T8. On blood cultures, L. garvieae was identified by MALDI-TOF MS. To our knowledge, this is the first report of spondylitis caused by L. garvieae in Korea. In this context, we reviewed non-endocarditis cases due to L. garvieae reported in the English-language literature to summarize its clinical features and outcomes.