Lactobacilli rhamnosus infections are rare and occur in patients with severe conditions causing immunosuppression and/or in those who have received intense antibiotic treatment such as with teicoplanin and vancomycin. We report two cases which occurred within a period of 48 hours, during regression of pancreatitis in two women aged 35 and 70 years old, hospitalized in the same department. Several criteria pointed towards two independent infections but the rarity and chronology of the appearance of these infections raised the question of possible cross-contamination. Lactobacillus rhamnosus was isolated in intra-abdominal samples from both patients, and in blood cultures from one of them. Specimens were monomicrobial. The description of these observations shows the limits of molecular biology for identifying the Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain: it was not possible to determine whether a single clone or two different clones were involved.
Adult Aged