Case report
Osteomyelitis pubis caused by Kingella kingae in an adult patient: Report of the first case
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
2 Department of Radiology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
3 Department of Gynaecology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
4 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
5 Department of Microbiology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
6 Department of Internal Medicine and Postoperative Medicine, St Luc University Hospital, Catholic University of Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium
BMC Infectious Diseases 2012, 12:236 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-12-236
Published: 2 October 2012Abstract
Background
Kingella kingae is the second most common pathogen causing paediatric arthritis and is described to be the causative bacteria in some paediatric osteomyelitis. Its microbiological detection is particularly difficult due to its slow growing. To our best knowledge this is the first case description of osteomyelitis pubis caused by this microorganism.
Case presentation
We report the unusual case of pubic osteomyelitis with soft tissue abcess caused by Kingella kingae in an adult patient of 66 years with a history of end-stage renal disease and breast carcinoma. Diagnosis was based on imaging and the microorganism was isolated from Computed Tomography-guided aspiration of synovial fluid. The infection resolved completely after twelve weeks of treatment with oral amoxicillin.
Conclusion
This case description highlights the importance in osteoarticular infections of systematic inoculation of synovial liquid in BACTEC vials to optimise the detection of causative organisms, which can necessitate specific treatments.
