Abstract
BackgroundActinomycosis is a rare infectious disease caused by Actinomyces, especially in children. Here, we present a case of musculoskeletal actinomycosis in a 5-year-old girl from China.Case presentationA 5-year-old girl presented with recurrent episodes of fever, pain, erythema, swelling, and festering sores on the right lower extremity, and pus was discharged from a sinus in the right foot. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suggested subcutaneous soft tissue infection and osteomyelitis of the right crus. A bacterial culture of pus extracted from a festering sore on the right popliteal fossa detected the growth of Actinomycetes europaeus. The patient was cured with 7 weeks of treatment with intravenous ampicillin-sulbactam, followed by 6 weeks of treatment with oral amoxicillin-clavulanate with surgical debridement and drainage. There were no symptoms of recurrence during the 15-month period of follow-up.ConclusionsPediatric actinomycosis is a rare and challenging infectious disease. Early accurate diagnosis and optimal surgical debridement are important for the management of pediatric actinomycosis.
Highlights
Actinomycosis is a rare infectious disease caused by Actinomyces, especially in children
Accurate diagnosis and optimal surgical debridement are important for the management of pediatric actinomycosis
Bacterial culture of the pus extracted from the festering sore on the right popliteal fossa detected the growth of Actinomycetes europaeus, which was confirmed by colony morphology, bacterial Gram stain smears (Fig. 3, ZEISS Primostar), and mass spectrometry
Summary
Actinomycosis is a rare infectious disease caused by Actinomyces, especially in children. *Correspondence: zhangt@shchildren.com.cn 1 Institute of Pediatric Infection, Immunity and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Children’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article abdominopelvic areas, central nervous system tissue, muscle and bone [4]. We report a case of musculoskeletal actinomycosis caused by Actinomycetes europaeus in a 5-year-old girl from China.
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