A rare case of mastoid infection caused by actinomyces israelii is presented. This patient underwent exploratory mastoidectomy followed by long term oral pencillin. She responded well to the treatment and has been asymptomatic on follow up to date.
We report a case of a 34-year-old man who was initially treated as community acquired pneumonia following a three-month-history of productive cough, loss of weight and loss of appetite. However, three months after discharged from the hospital, he presented again with worsening respiratory symptoms and radiological evidence of a lung cavitation with intracavitary lesion resembling an aspergilloma associated with surrounding consolidation. Unfortunately, he remained symptomatic despite on antifungal therapy. The repeat computed-tomography demonstrated persistent cavitating lesion with development of necrotising pneumonia. He underwent lobectomy and the histopathological analysis of the resected specimen however revealed the diagnosis of actinomycosis.
Pulmonary actinomycosis is a rare yet important and challenging diagnosis to make. It is commonly confused with other lung diseases, such as tuberculosis and bronchogenic carcinoma, leading to delay diagnosis or misdiagnosis. A 49-year-old man presented with a chronic cough, hemoptysis, and pleuritic chest pain. His initial imaging studies including computed tomography (CT) was suggestive of bronchogenic carcinoma. A subsequent CTguided biopsy was consistent with pulmonary actinomycosis and excluded the possibility of bronchogenic carcinoma. He was treated with antibiotic therapy and achieved remission with complete radiological resolution upon follow-up.
A 12-year old girl presented with an unusual problem of recurrent discharging multiple skin sinuses on her right anterior and posterior chest wall for a year. There was ipsilateral lower lobe pneumonia and imaging showed multiple abscesses in her lower back muscles bilaterally. A purulent fluid was aspirated from her back muscles and the histology examination showed sulphur granules with gram positive branched filaments. She responded well to the treatment for actinomycosis with penicillin and doxycycline.