Unusual presentations of actinomycosis: a case series and literature review

Scientific paper - Review paper

• Author: Tomislava Skuhala
• Author: Dalibor Vukelić
• Author: Boško Desnica
• Author: Mirjana Balen-Topić
• Author: Andrija Stanimirović
• Author: Klaudija Višković
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; School of Medicine; (Department of Infectious Diseases)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE; Clinical Medical Sciences; Infectology

Abstract (english)

Introduction: To review unusual actinomycosis cases that appeared as a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge at our institution and to present a literature review on the usual clinical presentations.
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Methodology: This retrospective review included all patients hospitalized for actinomycosis in a 10-year period at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases "Dr. Fran Mihaljević", Zagreb, Croatia.
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Results: A total of 15 patients were hospitalized during the observed period, 9 (60%) females and 6 (40%) males. The localizations of actinomycosis were: pelvis (5), lungs (3), blood stream (2), colon (1), penis (1), stomach (1), skin (1), cervicofacial region (1). We present four unusual cases: subcutaneous actinomycotic abscess, actinomycosis of the stomach with underlying non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sepsis due to Actinomyces neslundii originated from chronic asymptomatic periapical tooth abscesses and actinomycosis of the distal part of the penile shaft.
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Conclusions: Actinomycosis was a very rare clinical problem in our clinical practice (0.032% of all hospitalizations and 0.0034% of all outpatients) but among those cases classical clinical presentations were also very rare.

• Keywords (english): Actinomycosis / diagnosis; Actinomycosis / pathology; Aged; Croatia; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Review paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
• Numbering: vol. 15, no. 06, pp. 892-896
• e-ISSN: 1972-2680
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.13414
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:105:645383
• Publication: 2021-06-30
• Document URL: https://www.jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/13414
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2022-06-09 08:08:00