FLEXISPIRA RAPPINI BACTEREMIA IN A CHILD WITH PNEUMONIA

We describe a case of ''Flexispira rappini'' bacteremia from a 9-year- old girl who presented with a 5-day history of fever, productive cough , and malaise. A chest X-ray result was compatible with right middle l obe pneumonia, flood culture grew a gram-negative spiral fusiform bact erium 2 days after the inoculation. Biochemical tests showed the organ ism to be catalase negative, oxidase positive, sodium hippurate hydrol ysis negative, and urea hydrolysis negative, 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified this organism as ''F. rappini,'' showing a six-base substit ution from the type strain. This is the first report of ''F. rappini'' bacteremia in a human, suggesting that this organism has the potentia l of causing invasive infection, but its role in pneumonia is uncertai n and could be unrelated to the bacteremia.