Eikenella corrodens

Eikenella corrodensis a slow-growing, facultative anaerobic gram-negative bacillus that has been recognized as a human pathogen only in recent years.¹The organism is part of the normal flora of the mouth, nasopharynx, bowel, and urogenital tract. It has been cultured from a variety of soft tissue infections, andE corrodenshas been grown from pure cultures from subcutaneous abscesses in drug abusers.²,³We report an unusual indolent skin infection in a drug abuser in whichE corrodenswas the infectious agent. Report of a Case A 39-year-old man was first seen in July 1980 for a slowly enlarging lesion on the wrist of one-year's duration. It had first appeared as a red papule. The patient denied any trauma to the affected area, but at the time the lesion appeared he had been regularly using intravenous (IV) heroin and methylphenidate. The drug abuse had stopped abruptly 4½ months