Streptococcus lutetiensis septicemia in a 3-month-old reticulated giraffe calf

Streptococcus lutetiensis is a gram-positive organism in the non-enterococcal Lancefield group D Streptococcus bovis/S. equinus complex. S. lutetiensis has been reported as a cause of septicemia, endocarditis, and meningitis in humans, mastitis in dairy cows, and systemic streptococcosis in sea otters. A 3-mo-old reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) with a history of suspected failure of passive transfer (FPT) was submitted for postmortem examination, revealing bacterial septicemia, fibrinosuppurative polyarthritis, and embolic glomerulonephritis, with intravascular gram-positive cocci and microthrombosis in multiple organs. Bacterial culture and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry detected S. lutetiensis. S. lutetiensis septicemia was likely the result of FPT in this giraffe calf.