Bacteremia Due to Dietzia maris in an Immunocompromised Patient

Dietzia maris has been isolated from soil and the skin and intestinal tract of carp [1, 2] but has not yet been implicated in human disease. To our knowledge, we report the first case associating D. maris bacteremia with the presence of a catheter in an immunocompromised patient presenting with septic shock and pneumothorax. A 38-year-old man was admitted to the Department of Pneumology of the Läennec University Hospital (Nantes, France) with thoracic pain and fever. His medical history was remarkable for pulmonary arterial hypertension secondary to postembolic chronic pulmonary heart with a reduced cardiac index (2.5 L/[min7·m2]). He had postsmoking chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A catheter implanted in 1995 for continuous infusion of prostacyclin (an acute vasodilator) was left in place until 1998, while the patient was awaiting pulmonary transplantation. At admission, a chest radiograph showed pneumothorax. The patient developed septic shock with fever (407C) and a pleural reaction after the second pleural aspiration. Two culture flasks of peripheral blood obtained from a set of specimens were incubated.