Pneumococcal puerperal mastitis in a lactating mother

T Skalidis; A Stamnidi; V Syriopoulou; G Kontopoulos; N Legakis

doi:10.1099/acmi.0.000020

Pneumococcal puerperal mastitis in a lactating mother

Access Microbiol. 2019 Apr 24;1(6):e000020. doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000020. eCollection 2019.

Authors

T Skalidis¹, A Stamnidi¹, V Syriopoulou², G Kontopoulos³, N Legakis¹

Affiliations

¹ Central Laboratories, IASO Gynecology, Maternity and Pediatric Hospital, IASO Group Hospitals, Athens, Greece.
² Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³ IASO Gynecology, Maternity Hospital, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

Introduction: A case of pneumococcal mastitis in a breast-feeding mother 6 months postpartum is described. Mastitis is usually caused by Staphylococcus aureus . A review of the literature from 1950 to March 2018 revealed only four other cases in which the causative organism was Streptococcus pneumoniae .

Case presentation: The nursing mother presented with high fever and the four cardinal signs of inflammation of the left breast: calor, dolor, rubor, tumour. In milk culture Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated in numbers exceeding 10⁵ c.f.u. ml^-1 . The strain was of polysaccharide serotype 11 not included in Prevnar-13. Susceptibility testing showed full sensitivity to β-lactam antibiotics as well as to macrolides, lincosamides, vancomycin and tetracycline.

Conclusion: Streptococcus pneumoniae should be considered as a possible causative agent of puerperal mastitis.

Keywords: breast-feeding; pneumococcal infection; puerperal mastitis.

Publication types

Case Reports