Acute periprosthetic joint infection due to Fusobacterium nucleatum in a non-immunocompromised patient. Failure using a Debridement, Antibiotics + Implant retention approach

Abstract

Fusobacterium nucleatum is an obligately anaerobic gram-negative rod, a component of the microbiome of the oropharynx and the gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts, causing an array of human infections which often include periodontal pathologies. As far as we know, there are no previous publications about acute periprosthetic joint infection due to Fusobacterium sp.; we report the first case in the medical literature of an aggressive, acute knee prosthetic infection due to F. nucleatum in a non-immunocompromised patient, unsuccessfully treated with a DAIR approach (Debridement + Antibiotics + Implant Retention).

Keywords: Anaerobic bacteria; DAIR; Fusobacterium nucleatum; Periprosthetic joint infection.