Haemophilus pittmaniae respiratory infection in a patient with siderosis: a case report

Mathilde Bouc Boucher (1) , Marielle Bedotto (1) , Carine Couderc (1) , Carine Gomez (2, 3) , Martine Reynaud-Gaubert (2, 3) , Michel Drancourt (1, 2)

1 IHU Marseille - Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection
2 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes
3 Service de Pneumologie et Allergie - Hôpital Nord [Marseille]

Haemophilus pittmaniae was described in 2005 as a new species distantly related to Haemophilus parainfluenzae. This member of the human saliva microbiota has also been further isolated from various body fluids without formal description of the patients. Case presentation: We report the case of H. pittmaniae isolate made from a sputum specimen collected from a 58-year-old Caucasian man with a massive fibrotic form of siderosis who was awaiting lung transplantation. Identification of the isolate was ascertained by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. H. pittmaniae was considered to be responsible for the worsening of the patient's chronic respiratory failure and was successfully treated with oral amoxicillin.

Keywords: Siderosis; Chocolate Agar; Sputum Specimen; Chronic Respiratory Failure; Direct Microscopic Examination

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology

Mathilde Bouc Boucher, Marielle Bedotto, Carine Couderc, Carine Gomez, Martine Reynaud-Gaubert, et al.. Haemophilus pittmaniae respiratory infection in a patient with siderosis: a case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports, 2012, 6 (120), ⟨10.1186/1752-1947-6-120⟩. ⟨hal-01769601⟩