Listeria monocytogenes Infection in Hairy Cell Leukemia: A Case Report and Literature Review

Table 2

Listeria monocytogenes infections in 6 patients with hairy cell leukemia¹.

Patient number	Age (y), sex	Previous leukemia management	Infection^2	Comorbid condition(s)	Antibiotic(s)^3	Reference
1	70, M	ns	Meningoencephalitis	ns	Ampicillin + trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole	[5]
2	62, M	Splenectomy 11 y before	Meningitis	Asthma treated with prednisone 5 mg daily	Ampicillin + gentamycin	[6]
3	73, M	Splenectomy 6 y before	Meningitis	Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; thrombocytopenia; Kaposi's sarcoma treated with vinblastine, electron beam	Ampicillin + gentamycin	[7]
4	53, M	Splenectomy 4 y before	Cutaneous lesions, bacteremia, cerebritis	Seropositive for hepatitis B	Ampicillin + gentamycin; corticosteroids	[8]
5	93, M	ns	Bacteremia	Antileukemia chemotherapy	ns	[9]
6	66, M	No therapy	Bacteremia	None	Levofloxacin	Present report

¹Age at diagnosis of L. monocytogenes infection; ns = not stated; ²possible sources of infection were reported as soft cheese and meat/poultry cold cuts in patient number 2 and horses and silage in the present case; ³predominant antibiotic therapy during acute infection. In patient number 2, infection progressed on initial ciprofloxacin therapy. Before L. monocytogenes was identified in cultures, some patients received other antibiotics that were subsequently discontinued, as appropriate. Some patients received protracted antibiotic therapy after resolution of the acute phase of infection. Each of these six men survived his respective infection.