Vibrio vulnificus is a species of halophilic gram-negative bacilli. The organism causes infections with two distinct clinical presentation, wepticemia and primary wound infection, mostly in men with over 40-years of age with underlying liver
disease. In
Korea, the primary septicemia are not rare disease, but, to our knowledge, the primary wound infection has not been documented as yet. A case of V. vulnificus primary woud infection was diagnosed at the Severance Hospital in 1992. The patient was
a
49-year-old man with underlying liver disease and heavy drinking. His previously injured right index finger was exposed to seawater and shellfish during recreational activity. Next day, fever and chill developed abruptly. Erythema appeared on the
right
hand and distal one third of the forearm, and rapidly evolved to bullae or vesicles. Subsequently, the right index finger became necrotic. He denied eating of raw fish or shellfish. The patient was given various antimicrobial agents including
doxycycline without improvement. After Ray amputation, the recovery was uneventful. V. vulnificus was isolated from skin lesion, but not from the blood. The isolates showed typical biochemical characteristics, and was susceptible to all of
antimicrobial
agents tested.
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