Infectious pericarditis in children

Abstract

Twelve children with bacterial pericarditis and two children with pericardial effusion from which viruses were isolated were seen at St. Louis Children's Hospital between 1958 and 1973. <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> was responsible for eight of the 12 cases of bacterial pericarditis, and in one of these cases produced a necrotic aorititis and false mycotic aneurysm. Four of the eight patients with <i>S. aureus</i> pericarditis had preceding or concurrent skin infections with this organism, including two in whom <i>S. aureus</i> skin infection was a complication of varicella. In one patient with <i>Hemophilus influenzae</i>, type b, pneumonitis, a pericardial effusion developed on the tenth day of therapy and Coxsackie A9 virus was isolated from pericardial fluid. The first example of isolation of adenovirus type 7 from the pericardial fluid of another patient is also reported.