Abstract

We report a case of a 60-year-old Caucasian man with a history of alcohol excess who presented to the emergency department with a 72-hour history of abdominal pain, profuse diarrhoea and vomiting. He was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) 12 hours later in extremis with severe sepsis and multiorgan failure. Collateral history from the patient on admission to ICU identified that he had been bitten by a dog 3 days prior to his symptom onset. Provisional microscopy and Gram staining from peripheral blood cultures taken on admission revealed the presence of long, thin Gram-negative bacilli in the anaerobic bottle only. This was later identified as Capnocytophaga canimorsus. The patient survived the septic episode and was discharged to level 2 care 9 days later under the care of the renal physicians for ongoing renal dialysis.