[Severe polyarthritis and tenosynovitis due to Streptococcus agalactiae in a patient with functional hyposplenia]

Medicina (B Aires). 2002;62(4):337-8.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

Cases of arthritis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae are infrequent and in our knowledge there are no case reports of tenosynovitis caused by S. agalactiae. A 46-year-old woman presented with fever, polyarthralgia, myalgia, diarrhea and vomiting. She had a history of papillary thyroid carcinoma and functional hyposplenia. She was febrile, with arthritis in hands, wrists, elbows, right shoulder and left ankle joints, and presented tenosynovitis in both feet and left hand. Blood and right olecranon bursa sample cultures were positive for S. agalactiae. An ultrasound scan made at the musculus tibialis anterior of left foot revealed signs of tenosynovitis. She was treated with intravenous cefazolin for 20 days and oral cefuroxime for 12 days. The joint involvement completely subsided in 60 days. Streptococcus agalactiae can cause, infrequently, a polyarthritis and tenosynovitis syndrome similar to disseminated gonococcal infection.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Arthritis / drug therapy
  • Arthritis / microbiology*
  • Cefazolin / therapeutic use
  • Ceftriaxone / therapeutic use
  • Cephalosporins / therapeutic use
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Splenic Diseases / microbiology
  • Splenic Diseases / physiopathology*
  • Streptococcal Infections / diagnosis*
  • Streptococcal Infections / drug therapy
  • Streptococcus agalactiae / isolation & purification*
  • Tenosynovitis / drug therapy
  • Tenosynovitis / microbiology*

Substances

  • Cephalosporins
  • Ceftriaxone
  • Cefazolin