Case Reports

A lingual abscess caused by Streptococcus intermedius

  • 1VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Seattle, WA 98108, USA
  • 2University of Washington, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  • 3University of Washington, Department of Otolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
  • 4VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Surgery and Perioperative Care Service, Seattle, WA 98108, USA
  • 5Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Clinical Research Division, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
  • Correspondence
    Jill E. Clarridge, III Jill.clarridge{at}va.gov
  • Journal of Medical Microbiology 2012; 61(Pt 4):590–592 · https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.036913-0

    View at publisher PubMed

    Abstract

    Lingual abscesses are rare. We describe a case in a healthy female with no recent history of trauma. The organism recovered by culture of drainage material collected prior to antibiotic treatment was Streptococcus intermedius, an organism recognized as flora of the oropharynx and associated with abscess formation. The isolate was resistant to clindamycin, which was the antibiotic therapy that the patient received.