Helicobacter sp flexispira bacteremia in an immunocompetent young adult

A young immunocompetent patient was admitted for a febrile illness,vith mal aise, arthralgias, painful leg swelling, and polyserositis. Shortly prior t o becoming ill, the patient had traveled to the Northern African desert. Th e symptoms disappeared during treatment with antibiotics (doxycycline and c eftriaxone) but recurred twice after stopping therapy. A motile gram-negati ve fusiform rod was isolated from a blood culture taken on the first admiss ion. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of the blood culture isolate revealed cl ose similarity with Helicobacter sp. flexispira taxon 8 (99.9% identity), a species that was previously reported as "Flexispira rappini." This is the first reported case of a recurrent Helicobacter sp. flexispira bacteremia i n an adult, immunocompetent patient.