CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF SEPTICEMIA DUE TO SERRATIA-FICARIA

Serratia ficaria was first described in 1979 as part of the fig tree e cosystem (P. A. D. Grimont, F. Grimont, and M. P. Starr, Curr. Microbi ol. 2:277-282, 1979). Since then, it has been isolated from clinical s pecimens from a few human patients (C. Bollet, J. Freney, P. de Micco, F. Grimont, and P. A. D. Grimont, Med. Mal. Infect. 20:97-100, 1990; J. A Brouillard, W. Hansen, and A. Compere, J. Clin. Microbiol. 19:902 -904, 1984; H. Darbas, H. Jean-Pierre, G. Boyer, and M. Riviere, Med. Mal. Infect. 23:269-270, 1993; V. J. Gill, J. J. Farmer, III, P. A. D. Grimont, M. A. Asbury, and C. L. McIntosh, J. Clin. Microbiol. 14:234 -236, 1981; F. D. Pien and J. J. Farmer III, South. Med. J. 76:1591-15 92, 1983; C. Richard, J. de Coquet, and C. Sue, Med. Mal. Infect. 19:4 5-47, 1989), but the pathogenicity of S. ficaria was always questionab le. We are reporting the case of an aged cancer patient who developed S. ficaria septicemia. The habitat of this organism and its potential role as a pathogen are discussed.