Capnocytophaga canimorsus: infection, septicaemia, recovery and reconstruction

Burns Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia Correspondence Stephanie Chiang-Mei Low stephanie.low{at}health.sa.gov.au Received 8 November 2007 Accepted 11 March 2008 A case is presented of a life-threatening septicaemia and associated peripheral necrosing microembolic phenomenon, resulting from a dog lick to an insignificant burn wound. The isolated bacterium was Capnocytophaga canimorsus , a slow-growing Gram-negative bacillus commonly found in dog saliva. Any clinician seeing patients with a history of dog bite/saliva contact and progressive illness should consider this bacterium as a possible offender and take special care to elicit an accurate history, specifically including questions regarding animal contact.