A previously healthy pregnant woman was delivered of a healthy child after a spontaneous vaginal delivery at 38weeks gestation. Two days after delivery, the mother had one episode of elevated temperature, with blood culture collected as part of a septic screen. The mother received intravenous antibiotics for 24hr prior to discharge home on oral antibiotics. A brief representation for minor vaginal bleeding precipitated a second course of oral antibiotics to cover for a possible mild endometritis.
The anaerobic blood culture vial flagged positive in the Biomerieux Virtuo at 42 hours after loading, with a large, chaining Gram positive bacillus with enormous endospores visualised. A filamentous Gram negative bacilli grew on Anaerobic Blood agar (ANA) and Chocolate agar incubated in anaerobic conditions after 4 days. Phenotypic testing and 16s rRNA PCR identified this organism as Sneathia vaginalis.
Discussion:
Sneathia vaginalis is a obligate anaerobic Gram negative bacillus that is an unusual isolate in blood culture. Organisms in the genus Sneathia are colonisers of the female genital tract and there has been increasing interest in their role in bacterial vaginosis and perinatal infections of mother and neonate.