Rare Presentation of Pleural Empyema due to Non Typhoidal Salmonella-A Case Report

Abstract

Non typhoidal Salmonella usually causes bacteraemia, enterocolitis, and endovascular infection, but pleuro-pulmonary illness is uncommon, mainly observed in patients with a background of malignancy, underlying pulmonary diseases. Localisation of the infection has been witnessed at various sites following a bacteraemia but case reports on pulmonary focus are minimal. Here, we report a case of a 36 year old male patient who presented to Emergency Department with an underlying non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma along with a left sided pleural effusion. Pleural fluid tapping was done and the sample was sent for microbiological analysis. The pleural fluid culture along with serotyping confirmed the organism as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The patient was discharged after parenteral Ceftriaxone therapy and symptom resolution. This case adds to the growing body of evidence of rare presentation of non typhoidal Salmonella as a probable etiological agent of infection in exudative pleural effusions.

Keywords

• gram-negative bacteria
• immunocompromised
• lymphoma
• pleural effusion
• pulmonary illness
• serotyping
• underlying diseases