Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a rare human pathogen, was repeatedly isolated from the blood of a 20-year-old male patient with patent ductus arteriosus who developed subacute bacterial endocarditis. Difficulties in isolating and identifying the organism are discussed. The bacterial isolate was found to be susceptible to various antimicrobial agents.
Actinobacillus/isolation & purification* ; Adult ; Blood/microbiology* ; Case Report ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial/microbiology* ; Human ; Male ; Septicemia/microbiology

Vibrio fetus was isolated from blood specimens of a subacute bacterial endocarditis patient. The 38 year old male patient was admitted to Severance Hospital in January 1970 for 11 days and again in July 1970 for 13 days. Subacute bacterial endocarditis was the major condtion. Aortic insufficiency and cholestatic hepatitis were the accessory diagnosis. The organism was isolated during the second admission. V. fetus human infection is known to be very rare, and the present case appears to be the first case in Korea. V. fetus grows very slowly with increased carbon dioxide tension which favours the growth. It is a slightly curved, S-shaped and spiral gram-negative organism. Many antibiotics, effective to gram negative organisms, inhibit the growth of the organism. V. fetus is an animal pathogen causing disease in ruminants. The patient enjoyed raw beef dishes. He could be infected with the organism by eating raw beef.
Adult ; Campylobacter fetus/isolation & purification ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial/etiology ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial/microbiology* ; Human ; Male ; Vibrio/isolation & purification* ; Vibrio Infections/microbiology*

Nonpathogenic Neisseria, normal inhabitants of the human nasopharynx, are known to cause occasional infections including such severe ones as septicemia, meningitis and endocarditis. Recently two strains of so called nonpathogenic. Neisseria, identified as N. subflava, were isolated from blood specimens of two different patients. One patient had meningitis, septicemia and subacute bacterial endocarditis while the other had septicemia. Pigment production by both of the strains was not definite and only a light yellow color was observed after prolonged incubation. However, the isolates showed bacteriological characteristics of N. subflava, namely gramnegative diplococci which were oxidase positive, acid production from fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose but not from lactose or mannitol; and iodine reacting polysaccharide production from sucrose. One of the patients revealed serum agglutinin titers up to 1 : 640 against the isolate.
Adult ; Case Report ; Endocarditis, Subacute Bacterial/microbiology* ; Female ; Human ; Male ; Meningitis/microbiology* ; Middle Age ; Neisseria/isolation & purification* ; Septicemia/microbiology*