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African Journal of Paediatric Surgery: AJPS logoLink to African Journal of Paediatric Surgery: AJPS
letter
. 2015 Jul-Sep;12(3):209. doi: 10.4103/0189-6725.170234

Massive purulent pericarditis in HIV-infected children

Beuy Joob 1,, Viroj Wiwanitkit 1
PMCID: PMC4955438  PMID: 26612132

Sir,

The report on “massive purulent pericarditis in HIV-infected children” is very interesting.[1] Bernadette et al. concluded that “massive purulent pericarditis is quite uncommon, but may still be found in HIV-infected children.”[1] In fact, the infectious cause of purulent pericarditis should be kept in mind when one deals with unexplained cardiac tamponade. A well-known rare syndrome namely “Lemierre's syndrome” should be mentioned. This syndrome is composed of “thrombophlebitis of internal jugular vein, septicemia and septic metastatic infection of different organs.”[2] Massive purulent pericarditis in the patient with Lemierre's syndrome is also observable. An important concern is the isolated pathogen in the patient can methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus which is hard to manage.[2,3] This might or might not associate with HIV infection. To early diagnose is required, and a point-of-care ultrasonography is reported to be a useful diagnostic tool for preliminary diagnosis.[4]

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Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

  • 1.Bernadette NN, Kamgaing N, Monebenimp F, Simeu C. Human immunodeficiency virus infection in a child revealed by a massive purulent pericarditis mistaken for liver abscess due to Staphylococcus aureus. Afr J Paediatr Surg. 2015;12:71–3. doi: 10.4103/0189-6725.150988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Gunatilake SS, Yapa LG, Gallala M, Gamlath R, Rodrigo C, Wimalaratna H. Lemierre's syndrome secondary to community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection presenting with cardiac tamponade, a rare disease with a life-threatening presentation: A case report. Int J Emerg Med. 2014;7:39. doi: 10.1186/s12245-014-0039-y. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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