Open AccessUnusual presentations of actinomycosis: a case series and literature review
Author(s) -
Tomislava Skuhala,
Dalibor Vukelić,
Boško Desnica,
Mirjana Balen-Topić,
Andrija Stanimirović,
Klaudija Višković
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of infection in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.322
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2036-6590
pISSN - 1972-2680
DOI - 10.3855/jidc.13414
Subject(s) - actinomycosis , medicine , pelvis , abscess , asymptomatic , actinomyces , surgery , dermatology , genetics , bacteria , biology
To review unusual actinomycosis cases that appeared as a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge at our institution and to present a literature review on the usual clinical presentations.
Methodology: This retrospective review included all patients hospitalized for actinomycosis in a 10-year period at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases “Dr. Fran Mihaljević”, Zagreb, Croatia.
Results: A total of 15 patients were hospitalized during the observed period, 9 (60%) females and 6 (40%) males. The localizations of actinomycosis were: pelvis (5), lungs (3), blood stream (2), colon (1), penis (1), stomach (1), skin (1), cervicofacial region (1).
We present four unusual cases: subcutaneous actinomycotic abscess, actinomycosis of the stomach with underlying non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sepsis due to Actinomyces neslundii originated from chronic asymptomatic periapical tooth abscesses and actinomycosis of the distal part of the penile shaft.
Conclusions: Actinomycosis was a very rare clinical problem in our clinical practice (0.032% of all hospitalizations and 0.0034% of all outpatients) but among those cases classical clinical presentations were also very rare.