Pleural empyema due to Gemella spp: report of 12 cases

Gemella genus bacteria can produce localized or generalized severe infections, but very rarely they have been described as causing pulmonary infections or pleural empyemas. To characterize patients with empyema caused by Gemella genus bacteria. The database of a Microbiology laboratory of a Spanish hospital was reviewed, searching for Gemella positive cultures of pleural effusions in a period of five years. We identified 12 patients (11 males) with Gemella spp pleural empyema. Eight were infected with G. haemolysans and four with G. morbillorum. All patients had predisposing factors such as poor oral hygiene, smoking, chronic cardiovascular or respiratory disease, alcoholism or malignancies. In ten cases, a thoracic drainage tube was placed with fibrinolysis in seven. One patient needed surgery because of a relapse of the empyema. Two patients died because of an advanced neoplasm, and the empyema was resolved in the rest. Gemella pleural empyema can occur and its isolation must not be seen as a contamination.