Vibrio vulnificus infection in a hemodialysis patient receiving intravenous iron therapy

Abstract

A 73-year-old man treated with long-term hemodialysis, erythropoietin, and intravenous iron sucrose infusions developed Vibrio vulnificus infection after eating raw oysters harvested from the Alabama coast. Five of the 31 persons with cases of V. vulnificus infection reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health (Montgomery) during 1996-2002 (including the patient described here) also had renal disease. Persons with renal disease, especially those treated with long-term hemodialysis and intravenous iron infusions, may have an increased risk of infection with V. vulnificus.