[Staphylococcus aureus hepatic abscess associated with cervical lymphadenitis]

Pyogenic liver abscesses usually develop secondary to biliary tract and intraabdominal infections and members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are usually implicated as the etiologic agents. In this report a case of hepatic abscess devoloped secondary to cervical lymphadenitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, was presented. Twenty-one years old male patient was admitted to the hospital with complaints of fever, swelling and pain at the right side of the neck and difficulty in swallowing. Physical examination revealed painful submandibular lymphadenopathy with hyperemia. Upon demonstration of cystic lymphadenopathy by magnetic resonance imaging of the neck, the mass was aspirated. Gram-positive cocci with abundant leucocytes were detected in Gram stained smears of the aspiration material and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) was identified in the culture. Treatment with ampicillin/sulbactam (4 x 1.5 g/day) was initiated. However, since patient still had fever and abdominal pain, nausea and vomitting were also added to his complaints, abdominal ultrasonography and computerized tomography (CT) were done and abscesses were demonstrated in liver. The abscesses were drained under CT guidance and the fever of the patient resolved. Treatment with ampicillin/sulbactam was continued for 6 weeks. Although it was considered that the hematogenous spread of MSSA that led to cervical lymphadenitis caused the hepatic abscesses, the agent was neither isolated from the blood culture nor from the hepatic abscess material. It should always be taken into consideration that liver abscesses might accompany distant infections and antibiotic therapy alone might not be sufficient for the complete resolution of such infections.