Human Infection with Vibrio Fetus

Vibrio fetus, a slowly growing, microaerophilic, Gram-negative rod which causes infectious abortion in cattle, occasionally induces disease in man. Since persons receiving immunosuppressive agents are among those most susceptible to this infection, recognition of the disease may become increasingly important as transplantation operations increase. Vibrio infections may produce a spectrum of acute and chronic illnesses or may be asymptomatic. Vibriosis may develop at any age but it seems most devastating in the very young or in older debilitated patients. The organism is sensitive to many common antibiotics but has a propensity to produce chronic relapsing illness if treatment is not continued long enough. The method of transmission of the agent is uncertain. Fewer than 100 cases of human vibriosis have been reported, perhaps because of fastidious growth requirements and the initial ease of antibiotic suppression; however, the true incidence of human infection is likely much higher.