Community-acquired Xanthomonas maltophilia pyelonephritis

We have described the case of a patient with a community-acquired urinary tract infection with what is more typically a nosocomial pathogen. Our patient had not been hospitalized recently, and his only established risk factor for X maltophilia infection was chronic bladder catheterization. Although paraplegic and thus disabled, he was not debilitated. He had had no recent antibiotic therapy prior to the onset of symptoms, but he did have a history of multiple previous bladder catheter-related infections. We believe that chronic outpatient bladder catheterization, with its risk of recurrent infections, may provide another niche for emergence of this nosocomial pathogen.