Introduction: Ochrobactrum anthropi, a ubiquitous Gram-negative bacterium of low virulence, is an increasingly recognized cause of infection in immunocompromised hosts such as patients with kidney failure treated by dialysis.
Case report: We report the case of a male hemodialysis patient with a central venous catheter, who developed an asymptomatic blood stream infection caused by Ochrobactrum anthropi. The infection was cured, and the dialysis catheter salvaged with intravenous meropenem and an antibiotic lock solution with ciprofloxacin.
Conclusion: We identified 13 further cases of Ochrobactrum infection in hemodialysis patients and 10 cases in peritoneal dialysis patients in the literature. Antibiotic treatment depends on the results of susceptibility testing. In many patients, however, removal of the central venous or peritoneal dialysis catheter is required to cure the infection.