Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis:  Acute Sepsis With Survival

There are two clinical patterns of human infection with Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis, an animal pathogen having a wide distribution. The more common form presents as a mesenteric lymphadenitis and has been well reported in Europe¹ and Canada.² The second form occurs less commonly, presents an acute septic course, and usually ends fatally. There have been three reported cases of the septic form in the United States,^3-5 while two other cases have been alluded to in personal communications.^6,7 There have been no published reports of sepsis with P pseudotuberculosis in the United States in over 25 years. Recently, in the European literature, autopsy findings in two cases of diabetes mellitus, cirrhosis, and sepsis due to P pseudotuberculosis have been reported.^7,8 We have recently seen a patient with diabetes mellitus and hemochromatosis who developed the septicemic form of P pseudotuberculosis and who survived following intensive antibiotic therapy.

Patient