Tropical pyomyositis

✍ Scribed by Phillip Kallen; Kenneth M. Nies; James S. Louie; Margaret Keller; Nancy Worthen; Arnold S. Bayer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 450 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780250119

✦ Synopsis

Tropical pyomyositis is an acute bacterial infection usually involving a single muscle (1-3) and most often due to Staphylococcus a i m u s (4-8). In tropical climates it may be responsible for as many as 4% of surgical admissions ( 9), but it is rarely reported in the United States.

We report an unusual case of tropical pyomyositis that involves bilateral multifocal muscle abscesses and elevated skeletal muscle enzymes and that initially resembled idiopathic polymyositis. Ultrasonography of affected muscles proved to be useful in the diagnosis and management of this infection. In the differential diagnosis of inflammatory muscle disease, the physician may be aided by knowledge of this treatable cause of muscle destruction.

Case Report. A 15-year-old Samoan male who had been in the United States for 3 months was admitted to the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He