First case report of sepsis caused by Rhizobium pusense in Japan

INTRODUCTION: Species of the genus Rhizobium are opportunistic, usually saprophytic, glucose-non-fermenting, Gram-negative bacilli found in agricultural soil. Rhizobium pusense infections are the least common Rhizobium infections and have low incidence. CASE PRESENTATION: Herein, we report the first case of sepsis with R. pusense in Japan in a 67-year-old Japanese woman with a history of hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism and osteoporosis. She had undergone cerebrovascular treatment because she was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage. The results of postoperative blood culture showed oxidase-positive, urease-positive, non-lactose-fermenting Gram-stain-negative rods. Using the Vitek2 system, the isolate was distinctly identified as Rhizobium radiobacter. However, 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed 99.93 % similarity with the type strain of R. pusense and 99.06 % similarity with the type strain of R. radiobacter. Additional gene sequencing analysis using recA (97.2 %) and atpD (96.2 %) also showed that the isolated strain is most closely related to R. pusense. The patient was cured by treatment using intravenous meropenem (3 g/d) for 4 weeks and was discharged safely. CONCLUSION: The definite source of sepsis was unknown. However, the possibility of having been infected through the catheter during the cerebrovascular operation was speculated.