EC Microbiology

Introduction: Victivallis vadensis, a strictly anaerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, gram negative coccus, was first isolated in 2003 from the feces of a healthy Dutch male, and it is considered a component of the human gastrointestinal microbiome.

Presentation of Case: We present the case of an 18-year-old male with fever, chills, and abdominal pain, who developed ruptured appendicitis and was found to have V. vadensis bacteremia on blood culture.

Discussion: Prior papers have described difficulties in culturing V. vadensis. However, this isolate grew in 4 days on an anaerobically incubated blood agar plate. V. vadensis was the sole organism recovered from blood culture in this case, but it has never been reported to cause disease in humans. Blood cultures were collected shortly after administration of IV antibiotics, and growth of other organisms may have been inhibited by the administered antibiotics. It is unclear if the presence of V. vadensis bacteremia caused any of the patient’s symptoms or was simply the result of transient bacteremia related to ruptured appendicitis.

Conclusion: This is the first reported case of V. vadensis bacteremia, however, the significance of this isolate as it relates to clinical disease is unclear.

 Keywords: Victivallis vadensis; Bacteremia; Appendicitis; Microbiota; Gram-Negative; Anaerobic