[Two familial cases of psittacosis].

We report here 2 cases of psittacosis in a family. In the first case, a 51-year-old woman was admitted with fever, dry cough, and a chest radiograph showed increased opacity in the right upper lung field. On a diagnosis of atypical pneumonia, minocycline was given and her clinical symptoms and abnormal laboratory data were improved. The second case was her husband, a 58-year-old man who presented with fever 4 days after his wife's admission. His chest radiograph revealed increased opacity in the left lower lung field. The administration of azithromycin for 3 days attenuated his clinical symptoms and his abnormal laboratory data improved. The serum titer of complement fixation (CF) test and ELISA test against Chlamydophila psittaci were elevated in both cases on analysis of paired acute- and convalescent-phase serum speciments. The antigen of Chlamydophila was revealed from these parrots, which had been raised in their family. Therefore, we concluded that the psittacosis had originated from the parrots.

[A case of multiple lung abscesses successfully treated with computed tomography guided percutaneous thoracic drainage].

A 48-year-old woman who had abused alcohol admitted to our hospital because of fever and chest pain. Laboratory data presented inflammation and liver dysfunction. Chest X-ray films revealed multiple mass lesions with air fluid levels. We diagnosed multiple lung abscesses and started treatment with antibiotics. However, her fever did not improve and mass lesions increased. On day 6 of hospitalization, three drainage tubes were inserted percutaneously into the mass lesions under computed tomography (CT) guidance, and alpha-hemolytic streptococcus, peptostreptococcus sp. and neutrophils were isolated from the drainage fluid. Abcesses and inflammation were improved by administration of the antibiotics selected according to the result of fluid culture. Because all multiple abcesses were located near the pleura, we successfully treated them with simultaneous percutaneus thoracic drainage.