Remote transient Lactobacillus animalis bacteremia causing prosthetic hip joint infection: A case report

Abstract

Background: Lactobacillus spp. are uncommon pathogens in immunocompetent hosts, and even rarer causes of prosthetic device infections. Case presentation: A case of chronic hip prosthetic joint infection (PJI) caused by L. animalis is described. This occurred 5 years after a transient bacteremia with the same organism. Whole genome sequencing of both isolates proved this PJI infection resulted from this remote bacteremia. Conclusions: We document that prosthetic joint infections may be a consequence of bacteremia as much as 3 years before the onset of symptoms.