Campylobacter Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Campylobacter, including details on food poisoning, infection, symptoms, treatment.

Oral Campylobacter species involved in extraoral abscess: a report of three cases.

Han XY, Tarrand JJ, Rice DC

Department of Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 84, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. xhan@mdanderson.org

Oral Campylobacter species are rarely reported to cause extraoral infections. Here we present three cases of extraoral abscess caused by an oral Campylobacter sp. and a Streptococcus sp. The Campylobacter species were all isolated anaerobically and identified by sequencing analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. The cases included a breast abscess caused by Campylobacter rectus and a non-group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus in a patient with lymphoma, a liver abscess caused by Campylobacter curvus and an alpha-hemolytic streptococcus in a patient with complicated ovarian cancer, and a postobstructive bronchial abscess caused by C. curvus and group C beta-hemolytic Streptococcus constellatus in a patient with lung cancer. The abscesses were drained or resected, and the patients were treated with antibiotics with full resolution of the lesions. The C. curvus cases are likely the first reported infections by this organism, and the C. rectus case represents the second such reported extraoral infection.

Published 5 May 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(5): 2513-5.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Campylobacter Research Today. All Rights Reserved.