<i>Ureaplasma parvum</i> Septic Arthritis, a Clinic Challenge

oleh: Carlos Suárez-Cuervo, Concepción Nicolás, Jonathan Fernández-Suárez, Ana Morilla, Javier Fernández, Luis Caminal-Montero

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-10-01

Deskripsi

<i>Ureaplasma parvum</i> is usually part of the normal genital microbiota. Rarely, it can cause invasive infections such as septic arthritis or meningitis. A case of a 74-year-old woman with follicular lymphoma who developed cellulitis followed by elbow arthritis with negative routine bacterial cultures is described. <i>U. parvum</i> was identified in the synovial fluid using a broad-range 16S ribosomal RNA gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and also in vaginal fluid by a targeted PCR (Anyplex™ II STI-7). Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) revealed that isolates from both sources belonged to ST4, a worldwide distributed clone. Treatment consisted of surgery and targeted antibiotic therapy with doxycycline and azithromycin. Evolution showed initial clinical improvement in arthritis despite functional sequelae. <i>Ureaplasma</i> arthritis should be considered as a rare cause of arthritis in negative culture, especially in immunosuppressed patients. In these cases, the treatment is not well established, but according to this and previous works, patients could improve with doxycycline, azithromycin or fluoroquinolone therapy on a prolonged basis.