Shewanella alga bacteremia and associated cellulitis in a patient with multiple myeloma

Shewanella alga is a gram-negative bacillus found in all types of water as well as in a variety of tainted food. It has rarely been associated with human disease, either in healthy or in immunocompromised patients. We report a 66-year-old man with a multiple myeloma who developed a cellulitis in both forearms in the course of a Shewanella bacteremia. He had a renal insufficiency and was moderately neutropenic after chemotherapy (vincristine, adriamycin, dexamethasone). Outcome was good after treatment with ceftazidime-amikacin despite all the risk factors. Shewanella isolation may be clinically significant. Haematological patients constitute a group of risk as increasingly aggressive chemotherapy regimens are used. Clinical outcome is not necessarily bad.