Getting to a Man's Heart through His Colon

Polymicrobial bacteraemia with Clostridioides difficile and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an elderly man following antibiotic use

Clostridioides difficile is a micro-organism well known to cause pseudomembranous colitis with rare extraintestinal manifestations. We present the case of an elderly male with multiple comorbidities who presented with acute onset of fever/chills and hypotension, found to have polymicrobial bacteraemia with C. difficile and Pseudomonas aeruginosa He was treated with piperacillin/tazobactam for P. aeruginosa bacteraemia, oral vancomycin for C. difficile colitis and intravenous, followed by oral metronidazole for C. difficile bacteraemia. Pseudomonas cleared after 1 day, and Clostridioides cleared after 4 days. Following an initial septic presentation, he responded appropriately to antimicrobial therapy and did well in follow-up.

Clostridioides difficile from intracardiac vegetation

Extracolonic manifestations by Clostridioides difficile are uncommon. Here, we report a case of monomicrobial C. difficile intracardiac vegetation in a 11-year-old girl with a predisposed heart disease who responded well to the treatment. C. difficile has been isolated from a variety of specimens outside the intestinal tract and is not always associated with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile Pacemaker Infection

Clostridioides difficile is the leading cause of antibiotic-associated nosocomial diarrhea, but extra-intestinal manifestations are rare. We describe the first documented case of bacteraemia with pacemaker pocket and lead infection with the toxigenic C. difficile ribotype 014 with a lack of abdominal symptoms. The patient underwent pacemaker extraction and treatment with intravenous and oral vancomycin. Genotyping and molecular subtyping revealed clonality between pacemaker and intestinal isolates. This case illustrates the risk of intravascular device infections due to C. difficile. Even asymptomatic C. difficile colonization might pose a risk for prosthetic material infection.