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Fusobacterium Nucleatum Empyema: An Atypical Presentation

2020; SMC MEDIA SRL; Issue: LATEST ONLINE Linguagem: Inglês

10.12890/2020_001631

2284-2594

Lucía Barrera-López, Cristina Macía-Rodríguez, Lucía Ferreiro, José Antonio Díaz‐Peromingo,

Amoebic Infections and Treatments

A 40-year-old man presented to the emergency room and was evaluated in the internal medicine department for unexplained weight loss, asthenia, anorexia and night sweats over the previous 2 months. After a loculated pleural effusion was identified on thoracic computed tomography, purulent fluid was drained from the lung and Fusobacterium nucleatum was isolated. The patient was successfully treated for 27 days with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. This was an atypical presentation of a common micro-organism implicated in lung infections.Empyema due to Fusobacterium nucleatum can have an atypical presentation, manifesting only with unexplained weight loss and night sweats.F. nucleatum lung infection usually responds well to treatment with common antibiotics.In patients with unexplained weight loss, the differential diagnosis should include cancer, tuberculosis and atypical presentations of other bacterial infections.