Characterization of Hafnia Infections in Cancer Patients

Abstract This retrospective study presents an analysis of Hafnia alvei infections in 15 cancer patients at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center from June 2013 to February 2020. All patients had underlying malignancies, primarily solid organ malignancies (73%). The mean patient age was 65.7 years, and the average duration of hospital stay was 17.7 days. Infection cultures were predominantly monomicrobial (53%) and obtained mainly from the urinary tract (33%). Co-isolates in polymicrobial cultures frequently included Klebsiella pneumoniae (43% of polymicrobial cases). H. alvei isolates demonstrated complete susceptibility to cefepime, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. In contrast, all isolates were resistant to ampicillin/sulbactam, ampicillin, and cefazolin, with lower susceptibility to cefoxitin (53%) and piperacillin/tazobactam (20%). Nitrofurantoin was effective against 80% of urinary tract isolates. These findings contribute valuable insights into H. alvei infection characteristics in immunocompromised patients, including patient demographics, infection site preferences, microbial co-isolation, and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles.