Necrotizing Fasciitis Caused by Aeromonas hydrophila With Catastrophic Progression

Necrotizing fasciitis is a severe deep soft tissue infection with poor disease prognosis. The Aeromonas species is characterized as gram-negative, facultative, anaerobic small bacilli that are ubiquitously distributed in aquatic environments. Necrotizing fasciitis caused by this species is rare but has an extremely high mortality rate, especially in immunocompromised individuals. This study presents the case of a 39-year-old man with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, Child-Pugh class B, with necrotizing fasciitis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila. Despite debridement and bilateral above-knee amputation performed immediately, rapid progression to bilateral upper limbs and trunk was noted in 24 hours. The patient expired from septic shock with multiple organ failure in less than 48 hours following initial presentation. Two similar cases with different medical intervention and results have been reported in the literature and are further discussed in the present study. This allows the authors to suggest potential solutions for an improved clinical outcome.

1. Ugarte-Torres, A, Perry, S, Franko, A, Church, DL. Multidrug-resistant Aeromonas hydrophila causing fatal bilateral necrotizing fasciitis in an immunocompromised patient: a case report. J Med Case Rep. 2018;12:326.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline2. Bhatia, N, Castro-Borobio, M, Greene, JN, Nanjappa, S. Necrotizing fasciitis secondary to Aeromonas infection presenting with septic shock. Case Rep Med. 2017;2017:4607582.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline3. Janda, JM, Guthertz, LS, Kokka, RP, Shimada, T. Aeromonas species in septicemia: laboratory characteristics and clinical observations. Clin Infect Dis. 1994;19:77-83.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline4. Monaghan, SF, Anjaria, D, Mohr, A, Livingston, DH. Necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila after crush injury of the lower extremity. Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2008;9:459-467.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline5. Tsujimoto, Y, Kanzawa, Y, Seto, H, et al. Necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila. Infez Med. 2019;27:429-435.
Google Scholar6. Minnaganti, VR, Patel, PJ, Iancu, D, Schoch, PE, Cunha, PA. Necrotizing fasciitis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila. Heart Lung. 2000;29:306-308.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline7. Liao, KC, Yen, PT, Liu, C. Necrotizing fasciitis caused by inconspicuous infection of Aeromonas hydrophila in an immunocompromised host. J Surg Case Rep. 2010;2010:2.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline8. Hong, CK, Chen, HC, Su, WR, Lee, PY. Rapid progression and mortality of necrotizing fasciitis caused by Aeromonas hydrophila in a patient with type I open tibial fracture. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2018;34:307-309.
Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline

Comments (0)

No login
gif