Hafnia alvei is a Gram-negative rod that is rarely isolated from human specimens and is rarely pathogenic. It has been associated with gastroenteritis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, bacteremia, and nosocomial wound infection, but extra-intestinal H. alvei infection is very rare. We present a case of biliary sepsis caused by H. alvei. A 42-year-old woman was admitted with abdominal pain and jaundice. She was diagnosed with metastatic cholangiocarcinoma and received conservative treatment. Six days later, hyperbilirubinemia and signs of sepsis developed and H. alvei was isolated from both the bile and blood. Despite treatment with antibiotics the organism was sensitive to (it was documented as susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam and ciprofloxacin in sensitivity tests), the patient's condition grew worse. The antibiotics were switched to meropenem and the biliary sepsis was resolved.
Abdominal Pain ; Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia ; Bile ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; Ciprofloxacin ; Female ; Gastroenteritis ; Hafnia ; Hafnia alvei ; Humans ; Hyperbilirubinemia ; Jaundice ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis ; Thienamycins ; Urinary Tract Infections ; Wound Infection

PURPOSE: To report a case of bacterial keratitis caused by Hafnia alvei after using a contact lens in a patient with graft-versus-host disease. CASE SUMMARY: A 47-year-old male patient presented with a corneal ulcer. The patient had been wearing a therapeutic contact lens for a month because of severe dry eye syndrome and filament removal due to filamentary keratitis. The patient had been taking moxifloxacin to prevent infection, but had not for the previous 7 days. The corneal ulcer occurred at the 11 o'clock direction in the peripheral cornea accompanied by corneal epithelial defect and stromal infiltration. The corneal scraping and culture yielded Hafnia alvei, which is susceptible to ceftazidime, levofloxacin and moxifloxacin. There was no systemic signs or symptoms to suspect systemic infection. After treatment with a topical antibiotic agent, the patient's eye condition improved with only mild corneal opacity remaining. CONCLUSIONS: Hafnia alvei infection rarely occurs in humans but should be considered as a potential causal pathogen in immunosuppressed patients.
Aza Compounds ; Ceftazidime ; Cornea ; Corneal Opacity ; Corneal Ulcer ; Dry Eye Syndromes ; Eye ; Graft vs Host Disease ; Hafnia ; Hafnia alvei ; Humans ; Keratitis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ofloxacin ; Quinolines

Hafnia alvei is gram-negative bacilli that is rarely isolated from human specimens and is rarely considered to be pathogenic. It has been associated with gastroenteritis, pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia, and nosocomial wound infections. But, no case of extraintestinal H. alvei infection was documented in Korea to our knowledge. A 50-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma was admitted to our hospital via emergecy department because of abdominal pain. The peritoneal fluid and 3 consecutive blood cutures yielded H. alvei. The organism was susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested, except cefazolin. Despite treatment with intravenous cefotaxime, the patient was expired after 4 days due to septicemia.
Abdominal Pain ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Ascitic Fluid ; Bacteremia ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cefazolin ; Cefotaxime ; Gastroenteritis ; Hafnia alvei* ; Hafnia* ; Humans ; Korea ; Meningitis ; Middle Aged ; Peritonitis* ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis* ; Wound Infection

Hafnia alvei is a gram-negative bacillus that is rarely isolated from human clinical specimens and is rarely pathogenic. This organism is an extremely uncommon cause of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). We report a case of an 83-year-old male with hepatitis C-associated liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma who was diagnosed with SBP caused by H. alvei. He was admitted to an university-affiliated hospital with fever and abdominal pain. There were 2 episodes of SBP during 2 months. Although isolates of H. alvei from ascitic fluid were shown to be susceptible to cefotaxime, responses for cefotaxime treatment were inadequate in both episodes. Therefore, cefotaxime was switched to imipenem in the first episode and to ciprofloxacin in the second, according to the results of antimicrobial susceptibility. After the antibiotics was changed, SBP was resolved.
Abdominal Pain ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Ascitic Fluid ; Bacillus ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cefotaxime ; Ciprofloxacin ; Fever ; Hafnia ; Hafnia alvei ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Imipenem ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Male ; Peritonitis

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the microbiological quality of unchlorinated drinking water in Korea, 2010. One hundred and eighty unchlorinated drinking water samples were collected from various sites in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. METHODS: To investigate bacterial presence, the pour plate method was used with cultures grown on selective media for total bacteria, total coliforms, and Staphylococcus spp., respectively. RESULTS: In the 180 total bacteria investigation, 72 samples from Seoul and 33 samples from Gyeonggi province were of an unacceptable quality (>10(2) CFU/mL). Of all the samples tested, total coliforms were detected in 28 samples (15.6%) and Staphylococcus spp. in 12 samples (6.7%). Most of the coliform isolates exhibited high-level resistance to cefazolin (88.2%), cefonicid (64.7%) and ceftazidime (20.6%). In addition, Staphylococcus spp. isolates exhibited high-level resistance to mupirocin (42%). Species of Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Cupriavidus, Hafnia, Rahnella, Serratia, and Yersinia were isolated from the water samples. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that consumption of unchlorinated drinking water could represent a notable risk to the health of consumers. As such, there is need for continuous monitoring of these water sources and to establish standards.
Acinetobacter ; Bacteria ; Cefazolin ; Cefonicid ; Ceftazidime ; Cupriavidus ; Drinking ; Drinking Water ; Hafnia ; Korea ; Mupirocin ; Pseudomonas ; Rahnella ; Serratia ; Staphylococcus ; Water ; Yersinia

BACKGROUND: In clinical microbiology the accurate and rapid identification of members of the family Enterobacteriaceae is essential for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and for epidemiologic studies. Accuracy of identification system depends mainly on data base such as positive rate of biochemical reactions, relative frequency of occurrence of biotype, and isolation frequency of microorganisms. The purpose of this study was to analyze the isolation rate and biotype frequency of the family Enterobacteriaceae isolated from tertiary care hospital in Korea. METHODS: Isolation frequency of the family Enterobacteriaceae isolated from clinical specimens during the period of January 1998 to June 1998 were analyzed. And biochemical phenotypes of 2,022 isolates tested by 10 tube system consisting of 14 conventional biochemical tests were also analyzed. RESULTS: Isolation rate of the family Enterobacteriaceae to the genus level in order of decreasing frequency were Escherichia (37.0%), Serratia (15.9%), Klebsiella (14.9%), Enterobacter (11.1%), Providencia (8.1%), Citrobacter (2.8%), Proteus (2.5%), Morganella (2.4%), Salmonella (2.4%), and Cedecea (0.7%). Among the genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae, Budvicia, Edwardsiella, Ewingella, Hafnia, Kluyvera, Leminorella, Moellerella, Shigella, Tatumella, Xenorhabdus, Yersinia, and Yokenella were not isolated. The number of species and genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae by this study were 48 and 12, respectively. Over 95% of all clinical isolates belonged to only 25 species. CONCLUSIONS: Although these data about frequency of relative isolation rate and biotype patterns of the family Enterobacteriaceae is inadequate according to species and genus, yet these data will be utilized for the application and development of identification method of the family Enterobacteriaceae.
Citrobacter ; Edwardsiella ; Enterobacter ; Enterobacteriaceae* ; Escherichia ; Hafnia ; Humans ; Klebsiella ; Kluyvera ; Korea ; Morganella ; Phenotype ; Proteus ; Providencia ; Salmonella ; Serratia ; Shigella ; Tertiary Healthcare ; Xenorhabdus ; Yersinia

A gene appA encoding a novel phytase was firstly cloned from Hafnia alvei by PCR and sequenced. The gene was consisted of 1335 bp, encoding 444 amino acids. The calculated molecular weight of the mature APPA was about 45.2 kD. The gene appA was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). Recombinant APPA was purified and its enzymatic properties were determined. The optimum pH for the enzyme was 4.5 and the optimum temperature was 60 degrees C. The pH stability of r-APPA is good, the relative phytase activity was above 80% after treated in buffers of pH 2.0-10.0. The specific activity of r-APPA is 356.7 U/mg, and the Km value was 0.49 mmol/L and Vmax of 238 U/mg. The enzyme showed resistance to pepsin and trypsin treatment.
6-Phytase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hafnia ; enzymology ; genetics ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Temperature