TY - JOUR T1 - Serrating through vascular access catheters: a great masquerader with severe systemic manifestations JF - BMJ Case Reports JO - BMJ Case Reports DO - 10.1136/bcr-2021-242013 VL - 14 IS - 4 SP - e242013 AU - Smit Sunil Deliwala AU - Murtaza Hussain AU - Anoosha Ponnapalli AU - Dominic Awuah AU - Philip McDonald AU - Ghassan Bachuwa Y1 - 2021/04/01 UR - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/14/4/e242013.abstract N2 - Serratia marcescens, time and again, has demonstrated its ability to easily adhere and infect vascular access catheters, making them a bona fide source of hospital outbreaks and contributing to adverse patient outcomes. We present a unique case of a severe recurrent Serratia infection, leading to persistent bacteria in the blood, haematogenous dissemination and subsequent development of abscesses, to a degree not reported in the literature before. These infections are exceedingly challenging to eradicate, owing to multiple virulence mechanisms and the deep seeding ability of this microorganism. Serratia infections require a multifaceted approach with intricacies in identification, therapeutics and surveillance, all of which are sparsely reported in the literature and reviewed in this report. ER -