Most cases of community-acquired pneumonia result from infection with predictable common pathogens. However, rare patients develop pneumonia from unusual bacterial species such as Pasteurella multocida, a Gram-negative oral commensal of most dogs and cats. The majority of P. multocida infections involve skin and soft tissue and complicate a bite or scratch. I report the case of an elderly man who owned 16 cats and developed bacteremic pneumonia with P. multocida.
Mark A. Marinella (Wed,) studied this question.