Salmonella typhimurium abscess of the chest wall

Patient: Male, 73 Final Diagnosis: Salmonella typhimurium abscess of the chest wall Symptoms: — Medication: Ciprofloxacin Clinical Procedure:— Specialty: Infectious Diseases OBJECTIVE: Unusual clinical course BACKGROUND: Non-typhoid Salmonella extra-intestinal infections usually develop in infants and in adult patients with pre-existing predisposing conditions. Blood stream infections and urinary tract infections are the most common clinical presentations, but other sites of infection may be involved as well. CASE REPORT: We describe a case of invasive salmonellosis caused by Salmonella typhimurium involving the chest wall in a 73-year-old man. The patient had suffered from gastroenteritis followed by left basal pneumonia with pleural effusion 7 weeks before. The CT scan of the chest wall showed a pericostal abscess with shirt-stud morphology near the left last cartilaginous arch. The abscess was surgically drained and patient was cured after a 40-day ciprofloxacin treatment. CONCLUSIONS: A review of the literature on extra-intestinal non-typhoid salmonellosis shows that pleuropulmonary and soft-tissue infections are uncommon. We argue that non-typhoid Salmonella might be considered as a possible cause of chest wall abscess in individuals with recent history of gastroenteritis complicated by pneumonia and pleural effusion.