A new treatment of sepsis caused by veillonella parvula: A case report and literature review.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVES: Veillonella parvula is usually regarded as a contaminant bacteria associated with polymicrobial infection. Here we report a rare case of sepsis caused by V. parvula, which was successfully treated by chloramphenicol. In addition, the therapeutic strategy for V. parvula infection was reviewed.

CASE SUMMARY: A 55-year-old woman underwent surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis and developed high fever (39.5°C) after surgery, accompanied by chills and fatigue. V. parvula was isolated in blood culture and shown to be probably sensitive to both meropenem and chloramphenicol. No improvement was seen after 3 days of treatment with meropenem, and then, iv chloramphenicol (1.5 g once daily) was added to the regimen. The symptoms and fever resolved in 2 days. She was continuously treated with chloramphenicol for another 10 days before discharge.

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: The reported antibiotics in the therapy of infections caused by veillonella species include penicillins, metronidazole, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, imipenem, clindamycin, doxycycline, erythromycin and chloramphenicol. To our knowledge, this is the first case describing successful treatment of V. parvula-caused sepsis with chloramphenicol.