Pleural Enterococcus faecalis Empyema: An Unusual Case

A 63-year-old female patient was admitted to the department of neurology following an acute ischemic infarction of the right medial cerebral artery. She developed fever, respiratory failure, and hypotension and had to be transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) for intubation and mechanical vent...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infection 2009-02, Vol.37 (1), p.56-59
Main Authors: Bergman, R, Tjan, D. H. T, Schouten, M. A, Haas, L. E. M, van Zanten, A. R. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amoxicillin-Potassium Clavulanate Combination - therapeutic use
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Antibiotics
Case Report
Cerebral Infarction - complications
Empyema - drug therapy
Empyema - microbiology
Empyema - surgery
Enterococcus faecalis
Enterococcus faecalis - isolation & purification
Family Medicine
Female
General Practice
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - diagnosis
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - drug therapy
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - microbiology
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections - surgery
Humans
Infectious Diseases
Internal Medicine
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Radiography, Thoracic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A 63-year-old female patient was admitted to the department of neurology following an acute ischemic infarction of the right medial cerebral artery. She developed fever, respiratory failure, and hypotension and had to be transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) for intubation and mechanical ventilation. Chest X-ray showed increased density of the complete right hemi-thorax, indicative of massive pleural effusion. Chest tube drainage produced 1.5 l of pus in 1 h. Cultures revealed growth of Enterococcus faecalis. The patient was treated with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid with good clinical response. Enterococci very rarely cause spontaneous pleural empyema. The natural resistance of enterococci to several types of antibiotics can lead to selection of enterococci as seen in other clinical studies and may lead to this unusual clinical consequence.
ISSN:0300-8126
1439-0973
DOI:10.1007/s15010-007-6359-6