We report the case of a 75-year-old diabetic man who developed a bilateral abscess of the parotid gland. Although a bacterial parotitis was first suspected, cultures of fine-needle aspiration identified Candida albicans as the causal agent. Failure of medical treatment led us to perform a surgical drainage of the right abscess. The patient was then treated with oral fluconazole for 6 weeks, with complete recovery during follow-up. Of interest, the patient had a history of right superficial parotidectomy for a benign tumor 30 years ago. Despite the high prevalence of oral carriage, fungal abscesses of the parotid gland are extremely rare and have only been reported in a few cases. This might be due to the fungal toxicity of the salivary proteins, like histatins. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Candida albicans abscess of the parotid gland developed bilaterally.
Keywords: Bilateral abscess; Candida; Parotid gland.
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