THE ORGANISM Campylobacter fetus exhibits a peculiar propensity to infect vascular endothelium. Campylobacter endocarditis and septic thrombophlebitis have already been seen,1-3 as has the secondary infection of a femoral artery aneurysm.4 However, until now, diagnoses of Campylobacter infections in abdominal aortic aneurysms have only been made at autopsy.5 One additional fatal case has been documented by the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, but the case report has not yet been published.
This article demonstrates that inflammatory variant abdominal aortic aneurysms can be culture-positive—a fact hitherto unrecognized, although many physicians have tried to grow organisms from aneurysm cultures6,7 and that Campylobacter aortic infection can be successfully treated by a one-stage surgical repair combined with administration of antibiotics.
Report of a Case
A 54-year-old man had excruciating back pain and fever. Eighteen days earlier he had undergone uneventful quintuple aortocoronary artery bypass grafting for unstable angina pectoris and