Hemophilus influenzae Pyarthrosis in an Adult

Abstract

Infection due to<i>Hemophilus influenzae</i>is generally considered to be a disease of infancy and early childhood, and its occurrence in an adult is rare. With advancing age, resistance to<i>H influenzae</i>increases, as shown by the bactericidal action of most adults' serum on the organism.^{1, 2}Meningitis due to<i>H influenzae</i>in adults is unusual; Merselis et al³in a review of the medical literature in English collected 44 cases to which they added a series of 11. A much rarer manifestation of disease due to the organism is pyarthrosis with only three cases previously described in adults. Dyer et al⁴described a case which involved a 48-year-old female with multiple articular involvement in whom joint fluid culture was positive for<i>H influenzae</i>; blood cultures were negative. The case of a 59-year-old female with pyarthrosis due to<i>H influenzae</i>was reviewed by Weaver and Sherwood.⁵Meligrano