ABSTRACT
We treated a previously healthy young man who developed toxic shock syndrome 2 days after elective septoplasty with nonabsorbent latex packing. This case emphasizes that non-menstrual wound-associated toxic shock syndrome can occur after surgery that does not involve absorbent splinting or packing and should be considered in patients who present within a few days after surgery with fever, sunburnlike rash, hypotension, and multisystem complaints and laboratory abnormalities.
Subject(s)
Bandages , Latex , Postoperative Complications/physiopathology , Shock, Septic/etiology , Adult , Humans , Male , Nasal Cavity/surgery , Oxacillin/therapeutic use , Postoperative Complications/drug therapy , Shock, Septic/drug therapy , Shock, Septic/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Eikenella corrodens is a gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic rod that is part of the normal oral flora. Although its pathogenicity was uncertain until recently, E corrodens has been implicated in a variety of human infections, usually in mixed culture, and commonly in patients predisposed by virtue of trauma, malignant neoplasms, antecedent surgery, or parenteral drug abuse. Parotitis due to E corrodens occurred in a healthy 72-year-old woman. Therapy with high-dose intravenous oxacillin sodium had been without effect, but surgical drainage plus antibiotic therapy directed against E corrodens produced prompt resolution.
