Objective: Unusual clinical course
Background: Non-typhoid Salmonella extra-intestinal infections usually develop in infants and in adult patients with pre-existing predisposing conditions. Blood stream infections and urinary tract infections are the most common clinical
presentations, but other sites of infection may be involved as well.
Case Report: We describe a case of invasive salmonellosis caused by Salmonella typhimurium involving the chest wall in a
73-year-old man. The patient had suffered from gastroenteritis followed by left basal pneumonia with pleural
effusion 7 weeks before. The CT scan of the chest wall showed a pericostal abscess with shirt-stud morphology
near the left last cartilaginous arch. The abscess was surgically drained and patient was cured after a 40-
day ciprofloxacin treatment.
Conclusions: A review of the literature on extra-intestinal non-typhoid salmonellosis shows that pleuropulmonary and softtissue infections are uncommon. We argue that non-typhoid Salmonella might be considered as a possible
cause of chest wall abscess in individuals with recent history of gastroenteritis complicated by pneumonia and pleural effusion.
