Pasteurella multocida From a Cat Scratch as a Cause of Recurrent Prosthetic Joint Infection After Previously Successful Single-Stage Exchange Arthroplasty

We report a case of a 74-year-old female with a history of a prosthetic joint infection that was successfully treated with a single-stage exchange arthroplasty, off antibiotics, and without symptoms for 20 months. She presented 1 week after a cat scratch with acute knee pain, and aspiration grew Pasteurella multocida. She was successfully treated with surgical debridement and a prolonged course of antibiotics. Debate remains in the literature regarding whether recurrent infections represent a previously undetected organism or a new infection. Our report provides convincing evidence that, at least in some circumstances, the infection is new. Furthermore, this is the first case described of P. multocida resulting in a recurrent prosthetic joint infection after a previously successful exchange arthroplasty due to a different causative organism. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).