Combination therapy successfully treats Pasteurella multocida-related invasive infections

Reviewed by Megan Craig, M.Sc.Jun 4 2023

Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. Pasteurella multocida, a Gram-negative, penicillin-sensitive coccobacillus that is frequently a member of the normal respiratory microbiota of different animals, remains a clinically important pathogen with the ability to cause severe disease. Few case reports have involved P. multocida infections without animal bites.

Moreover, few reports have identified P. multocida as the causative agent of septic shock, which usually occurs in patients with cirrhosis and/or immunocompromised patients. To our knowledge, a human submandibular salivary gland abscess caused by P. multocida has not been reported. Pasteurella spp. are resistant to benzylpenicillin, and human isolates of beta-lactamase-producing resistant strains of P. multocida resistant have also been documented.

The noteworthy findings of the current study were as follows: (i) the combination of ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin successfully treated two patients infected with P. multocida; (ii) the first reported case of a septicemic patient with no history of animal bites and a submandibular P. multocida infection; and (iii) an immunocompetent patient in septic shock due to a P. multocida systemic infection.