We describe a case of a life-threatening septicemia resulting from a previous 
dog bite wound. The isolated bacterium was Capnocytophaga canimorsus, a 
slow-growing Gram-negative bacillus commonly found in dog saliva. Known risk 
factors for invasive C. canimorsus infections are alcohol abuse, cigarette 
smoking, splenectomy or other forms of immunosuppression. Any clinician seeing 
patients with a history of a dog bite should consider this pathogen as a 
causative agent and take detailed history regarding exposure to animals.