Sternocleidomastoid Abscess Mimicking a Thyroid Swelling in a Young Female

Primary pyomyositis is a bacterial infection of skeletal muscle with acute or subacute clinical course. This usually present with localized abscess.We report a case of an 18 years old female presenting with swelling in midline of neck moving with deglutition mimicking a thyroid swelling. On further investigation patient was confirmed to have sternocleidomastoid myositis. Previous case reports have showed various etiologies for development of abscess. After thorough examination and investigations, patient was found to have an idiopathic sternocleidomastoid abscess which responded well to empirical antibiotic therapy.This is a very uncommon condition and very sparsely reported and so far, to the best of our knowledge there is no case report from India.