Bacteraemia with Leptotrichia buccalis: report of a case and review of the literature.

We report here on a new case of L. buccalis bacteraemia. To our knowledge 16 other cases of L. buccalis bacteraemia have been reported in the literature, most of them in neutropenic patients. However L buccalis endocarditis does occasionally occur in non-neutropenic patients. The identification of L. buccalis is based on well known phenotypic features and confirmed by the detection of a large peak of lactic acid by gas chromatography for non volatile organic acids. L. buccalis is sensitive to a wide range of antibiotics including beta-lactam antibiotics, but it is resistant to aminoglycosides and macrolides.