[Actinomyces meyeri cutaneous actinomycosis with pulmonary localization]

Infections due to Actinomycosis species are located in the cervico-facial region in 50 to 65 percent of the cases. Extra-cervical cutaneous lesions are exceptional. The most frequently encountered germ is Actinomyces israeli, observed in 85 percent of the cases. We report the case of an Actinomyces meyeri infection which presented as a leg abscess and a pulmonary lesion. There was no cervico-facial localization. There was however a chronic parodontitis. A second germ, Capnocytophaga sp. was isolated from the abscess. This case is of particular interest because of the extracervical localization and the rare species isolated (17 other cases of Actinomyces meyeri infection have been reported). The mechanism of the infection can be better understood in light of pulmonary lesions in the lower right lobe due to inhalation and the coexistence of a buccodental germ in the culture of the leg abscess: buccodental origin of the germ, pulmonary lesion secondary to inhalation, septicaemic dissemination with cutaneous metastases.