Acute Renal Failure in an Infant Associated with Cytotoxic Aeromonas sobria Isolated from Patient's Stool and from Aquarium Water as Suspected Source of Infection

In May 1996, a previously healthy and normally developed 6-month-old female infant was hospitalized after a 7-day period of watery and finally bloody diarrhea. Upon admission, the child was in poor general condition. Laboratory tests and ultrasound examinations of the kidneys revealed acute renal failure with marked metabolic acidosis and moderate anemia. The child's creatinine level was 442 μmol/liter, and dialysis was instituted after 12 h. There was no clear-cut evidence of hemoloysis or platelet involvement except a significantly elevated lactate dehydrogenase level. The patient remained in end-stage renal failure and after 16 months received a successful transplant from a pediatric donor in December 1997, without recurrence of renal failure or hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).