Background: Two cases of soft tissue infection by Aeromonas hydrophila are presented with review of the literature.
Patients and methods: Two cases of soft tissue infection by Aeromonas hydrophila diagnosed from 1992-1993 are reported.
Results: Most soft tissue infection produced by Aeromonas organisms are caused by Aeromonas hydrophila. These infections predominantly affect the lower limbs of middle-aged males with previous history of injury favoring infection. The most common clinical presentation is cellulitis with a good prognosis if bacteremia is not produced. Antibiotics, such as mainly third generation cephalosporins, imipenem, aztreonam, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, quinolones and aminoglucosides (except streptomycin) are usually very active in vitro against these organisms. Surgery is often necessary to cure the process.
Conclusions: Cellulitis by Aeromonas hydrophila is a very infrequent entity in Spain and is usually associated to previous injury and probable contamination by environmental bacteria.