Septic Shock Due to Clostridium perfringens

Abstract

Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic Gram-positive bacterium. We present the case of a 75-year-old female presented to the emergency department with progressively worsening acute on chronic left hip pain. It was not until the third day of hospitalization when the initial blood cultures finalized as Clostridium perfringens, antibiotics were changed to piperacillin-tazobactam and clindamycin. Despite the latest measurements, the patient continued getting hypotensive and progressed to multiorgan failure resulting in death by the end of the third day. The recognition of risk factors in addition to gram-positive rod cultures in the setting of septic shock reinforces the importance of appropriate and early empiric antibiotics management and infectious disease consultation to avoid fatal complications.