CUTANEOUS AND PULMONARY ACTINOMYCOSIS DUE TO ACTINOMYCES-MEYERI

Infections due to Actinomycosis species are located in the cervicofacial region in 50 to 65 percent of the cases. Extra-cervical cutaneous lesions are exceptional. The most frequently encountered germ is Actinomyces israeli, observed in 85 percent of the cases. We report the case of an Actinomyces meyeri infection which presented as a leg abscess and a pulmonary lesion. There was no cervico-facial localization. There was however a chronic parodontitis. A second germ, Capnocytophaga sp. was isolated from the abcess. This case is of articular interest because of the extracervical localization and the rare species isolated (17 other cases of Actinomyces meyeri infection have been reported). The mechanism of the infection can be better understood in light of pulmonary lesions in the lower right lobe due to inhalation and the coexistence of a buccodental germ in the culture of the leg abcess: buccodental origin of the germ, pulmonary lesion secondary to inhalation, septicaemic dissemination with cutaneous metastases.