Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Infections Post Transplant

Corynebacterium jeikeium bacteremia in bone marrow transplant patients with Hickman catheters

Abstract

Prior studies suggest that Corynebacterium jeikeium bacteremia in immunocompromised patients results in frequent morbidity that may be decreased by prompt removal of the indwelling catheter. To summarize recent experience, charts of 53 bone marrow transplant recipients with Hickman catheters and C. jeikeium bacteremia were reviewed. Forty-one patients were treated with vancomycin without catheter removal and 10 patients underwent catheter removal with subsequent vancomycin therapy. No patient in either group died with C. jeikeium bacteremia as the proximate cause. Salvage of the intravascular catheter was successful in 38 of 41 (93%) attempts. Three patients (7%) in the catheter-salvage group and one patient (10%) in the catheter-removal group experienced recurrent bacteremia. In both catheter-salvage and catheter-removal groups, median time to negative blood culture was 2 days. Thus, time to clearance of bacteremia and patient clinical outcome did not differ between treatment groups. In many patients with Hickman catheters, C. jeikeium bacteremia may be treated successfully with vancomycin and without removal of the catheter. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2001) 27, 445–449.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rozdzinski E, Kern W, Schmeiser T, Kurrle E . Corynebacterium jeikeium bacteremia at a tertiary care center Infection 1991 19: 201–204

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Stamm WE, Tompkins LS, Wagner KF et al. Infection due to Corynebacterium species in marrow transplant patients Ann Intern Med 1979 91: 167–173

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. van der Lelie H, Leverstein Van Hall M, Mertens M et al. Corynebacterium CDC group JK (Corynebacterium jeikeium) sepsis in haematological patients: a report of three cases and a systematic literature review Scand J Infect Dis 1995 27: 581–584

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brown AE . Other Corynebacteria and Rhodococcus. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R (eds) Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 5th edn Churchill-Livingstone: New York 2000 pp 2198–2208

    Google Scholar 

  5. Soriano F, Zapardiel J, Nieto E . Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Corynebacterium species and other non-spore-forming gram-positive bacilli to 18 antimicrobial agents Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1995 39: 208–214

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Raad II, Bodey GP . Infectious complications of indwelling vascular catheters Clin Infect Dis 1992 15: 197–208

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Elishoov H, Or R, Strauss N, Engelhard D . Nosocomial colonization, septicemia, and Hickman/Broviac catheter-related infections in bone marrow transplant recipients. A 5-year prospective study Medicine (Baltimore) 1998 77: 83–101

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Greene JN . Catheter-related complications of cancer therapy Infect Dis Clin North Am 1996 10: 255–295

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Storb R, Leisenring W, Deeg HJ et al. Long-term follow-up of a randomized trial of graft-versus-host disease prevention by methotrexate/cyclosporine versus methotrexate alone in patients given marrow grafts for severe aplastic anemia (letter) Blood 1994 83: 2749–2750

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Benezra D, Kiehn TE, Gold JW et al. Prospective study of infections in indwelling central venous catheters using quantitative blood cultures Am J Med 1988 85: 495–498

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Raad II, Sabbagh MF . Optimal duration of therapy for catheter-related Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: a study of 55 cases and review Clin Infect Dis 1992 14: 75–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Blue SR, Singh VR, Saubolle MA . Bacillus licheniformis bacteremia: five cases associated with indwelling central venous catheters Clin Infect Dis 1995 20: 629–633

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lecciones JA, Lee JW, Navarro EE et al. Vascular catheter-associated fungemia in patients with cancer: analysis of 155 episodes Clin Infect Dis 1992 14: 875–883

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Press OW, Ramsey PG, Larson EB et al. Hickman catheter infections in patients with malignancies Medicine (Baltimore) 1984 63: 189–200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Clarke DE, Raffin TA . Infectious complications of indwelling long-term central venous catheters Chest 1990 97: 966–972

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bayston R, Compton C, Richards K . Production of extracellular slime by coryneforms colonizing hydrocephalus shunts J Clin Microbiol 1994 32: 1705–1709

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Pearson ML . Guideline for prevention of intravascular device-related infections. Part I. Intravascular device-related infections: an overview. The Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee Am J Infect Control 1996 24: 262–277

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Munian MA, Martinez-Martinez L, Suarez AI et al. Corynebacterium jeikeium osteomyelitis successfully treated with teicoplanin (letter) J Infect 1997 35: 325–326

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. de Miguel-Martinez I, Ramos-Macias A, Martin-Sanchez AM . Otitis media due to Corynebacterium jeikeium Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 1999 18: 231–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Riebel W, Frantz N, Adelstein D, Spagnuolo PJ . Corynebacterium JK: a cause of nosocomial device-related infection Rev Infect Dis 1986 8: 42–49

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Lawrence Corey, Ajit Limaye, Thomas Novicki, and Walter Stamm for their guidance in the preparation of manuscript. We would like to thank Christopher Dorling for his assistance in retrieving information from the patient database, and Caroline McKallor and Madeline Keston for their expertise with the microbiology database. We are also grateful to Bruce Ulness for the information he provided from the microbiology laboratory. This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (No. PO1-AI-33118); Center for AIDS Research (NIAID AI27757); University of Washington STD Cooperative Research Center (NIAID AI31448). Chia Wang was a fellow in the UW STD/AIDS Postdoctoral and Predoctoral Research Training Program (NIAIDAI07140).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, C., Mattson, D. & Wald, A. Corynebacterium jeikeium bacteremia in bone marrow transplant patients with Hickman catheters. Bone Marrow Transplant 27, 445–449 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1702808

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1702808

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links