Edwardsiella tarda as a Cause for Limb- and Life- threatening Soft Tissue Infections: What All Plastic Surgeons Need to Know

Summary:. Edwardsiella tarda (ET), a Gram-negative bacterium, causes an extremely uncommon, yet highly aggressive, soft tissue infection. Although plastic surgeons are frequently involved in the primary care, debridement, and secondary reconstruction of difficult soft tissue infections, infections c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, MD, MRCS, Xi Lin Jing, MD, Edward Luce, MD, FACS
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer 2020-09-01
Series:Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Global Open
Online Access:http://journals.lww.com/prsgo/fulltext/10.1097/GOX.0000000000003016
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Summary:Summary:. Edwardsiella tarda (ET), a Gram-negative bacterium, causes an extremely uncommon, yet highly aggressive, soft tissue infection. Although plastic surgeons are frequently involved in the primary care, debridement, and secondary reconstruction of difficult soft tissue infections, infections caused by ET have received scant attention in the plastic surgery literature, perhaps because of the rarity of occurrence. We present a case of a 58-year-old man with alcohol abuse and hepatitis C who developed an upper extremity soft tissue infection after a catfish injury, which rapidly deteriorated to cause multiorgan failure and death within 5 days of admission. We will discuss the management of this rare but potentially lethal infection as well as the review of the current literature.
ISSN:2169-7574