<i>Bordetella bronchiseptica</i> pneumonia in a woman with lymphoma: A case report

A 62-year-old woman with splenic marginal zone lymphoma presented with fever, cough and bilateral pneumonia 11 days after chemotherapy. A bronchoalveolar lavage showed numerous leukocytes and Gramnegative bacilli that were identified as Bordetella bronchiseptica in culture. An antibiotherapy with minocycline and ciprofloxacin helped her to stop coughing. This unusual micro-organism, which has mainly an animal reservoir, is a rarely cause of human infection, almost always in immunocompromised patients. The main problems in B. bronchiseptica infection are the difficulties of identification of this micro-organism and the recurrence of infection, which are a challenge for microbiologists and practitionners.