An unusual osteomyelitis caused by Moraxella osloensis: A case report

Nidal J Alkhatib; Manaf H Younis; Ahmad S Alobaidi; Nebal M Shaath

doi:10.1016/j.ijscr.2017.10.022

An unusual osteomyelitis caused by Moraxella osloensis: A case report

Int J Surg Case Rep. 2017:41:146-149. doi: 10.1016/j.ijscr.2017.10.022. Epub 2017 Oct 18.

Authors

Nidal J Alkhatib¹, Manaf H Younis², Ahmad S Alobaidi¹, Nebal M Shaath¹

Affiliations

¹ Orthopedic Surgery Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
² Orthopedic Surgery Department, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: manafyunis@yahoo.com.

Abstract

Introduction: Moraxella osloensis is a gram-negative coccobacillus, that is saprophytic on skin and mucosa, and rarely causing human infections. Reported cases of human infections usually occur in immunocompromised patients.

Presentation of case: We report the second case of M. osloensis-caused-osteomyelitis in literature, occurring in a young healthy man. The organism was identified by sequencing analysis of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Our patient was treated successfully with surgical debridement and intravenous third-generation cephalosporins.

Discussion: M. osloensis has been rarely reported to cause local or invasive infections. Our case report is the second case in literature and it is different from the previously reported case in that our patient has no chronic medical problems, no history of trauma, with unique presentation and features on the MRI and intraoperative finding.

Conclusion: Proper diagnosis is essential for appropriate treatment of osteomyelitis. RNA gene sequence analysis is the primary method of M. osloensis diagnosis. M. osloensis is usually susceptible to simple antibiotics.

Keywords: Case report; Moraxella osloensis; Osteomyelitis.