Septic Arthritis Caused by Sphingomonas Paucimobilis in Immunocompetent Patient: Case Report and Literature Review

Septic arthritis, also known as infectious arthritis, is inflammation of the joints due to a wide range of pathogens, such as bacterial, fungal, mycobacterial, viral, or/and other pathogens; however, some opportunistic pathogens tend to affect immunocompromised patients and rarely infect immunocompetent patients. For example, Sphingomonas paucimobilis is an opportunistic pathogen with a particular tropism toward bones and soft tissues that rarely causes infections in immunocompetent humans. We present a case of Sphingomonas paucimobilis causing septic arthritis in a 34-year-old man who is medically free and with no history of previous surgeries or any other comorbidities. He was treated successfully by both pharmacological treatment and surgical intervention. To our knowledge, there are only four cases published in the literature involving Sphingomonas paucimobilis as a causative organism of septic arthritis affecting immunocompetent patients.