Abstract
BackgroundThoracic actinomycosis is an uncommon, chronic, and progressive infection, especially in patients with HIV. We report a case of thoracic actinomycosis presenting as an isolated pleural effusion in a patient with an HIV infection.Case presentationA 68-year-old patient with progressive dyspnea and fever was admitted. On the right side, an ipsilateral massive pleural effusion was confirmed on the chest radiograph, and an HIV infection was newly diagnosed. A pleural biopsy was performed for the further differential diagnosis of potential opportunistic infections and malignancies. The pathology findings were consistent with actinomycosis.ConclusionsActive diagnostic approaches such as a pleural biopsy should be considered for indeterminate pleural effusions in immunocompromised patients.
Highlights
Thoracic actinomycosis is an uncommon, chronic, and progressive infection, especially in patients with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Active diagnostic approaches such as a pleural biopsy should be considered for indeterminate pleural effusions in immunocompromised patients
Thoracic involvement with Actinomyces constitutes approximately 15% of the patients diagnosed with actinomycosis and an isolated pleural effusion is a rare clinical presentation of thoracic actinomycosis [1, 2]
Summary
Thoracic actinomycosis is an uncommon, chronic, and progressive infection, especially in patients with HIV. Conclusions: Active diagnostic approaches such as a pleural biopsy should be considered for indeterminate pleural effusions in immunocompromised patients. Thoracic involvement with Actinomyces constitutes approximately 15% of the patients diagnosed with actinomycosis and an isolated pleural effusion is a rare clinical presentation of thoracic actinomycosis [1, 2]. We report a rare case of thoracic actinomycosis presenting as an isolated pleural effusion in a newly diagnosed HIV-infected patient along with a literature review.
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