This case report discusses the rare association of cerebral abscess related to conjunctivitis in an otherwise healthy child. A 6 year old boy presented with conjunctivitis was treated with topical antibiotics and resolved after a week. Conjunctival swab cultures grew MRSA. A month later he developed status epileptics and CT scans revealed a large cerebral abscess. He was treated with intravenous antibiotics which covered for MRSA, along with an incision and drainage for the cerebral abscess. Pus cultures grew MRSA. The patient recovered well with no disturbance in visual acuity or visual field. On post-operative follow ups, he had no other neurological deficit apart from a slight limp.
Tuberculous paraplegia in pregnancy is reported to be rare. Paraplegia due to tuberculosis has a good prognosis if surgical decompression and stabilisation are done early together with chemotherapy. Vaginal delivery is not contraindicated in pregnancy complicated by paraplegia, but is associated with problems related to the initiation and progression of labour. Performing spinal nursing on an unstable spine with a rapidly enlarging gravid uterus in the third trimester of pregnancy poses a significant challenge. We report successful simultaneous Caesarean section and surgical treatment of a paraplegic spine due to tuberculosis.
Tularaemia is a rare infectious disease endemic in most European countries caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis 1 Patients often show acute non-specific symptoms, which causes a delay in diagnosis and proper treatment, potentially resulting in significant morbidities such as deep neck abscess, meningitis, endocarditis and septic shock. The authors present a case of a 5-year old boy with a 4-day history of fever, sore throat and painful cervical lymphadenopathy, whose clinical progression worsened despite being treated with recommended antibiotics as per WHO guidelines once the diagnosis of Tularaemia was confirmed by serologic tests. He developed a parapharyngeal abscess and a persistent left necrotic cervical lymph node, which both were surgically drained and excised, respectively, and an extended course of antibiotic was given. Subsequently, the patient fully recovered from the illness and the follow-up was negative for relapse.