Hemophilus influenzae Pyarthrosis in an Adult

Infection due toHemophilus influenzaeis generally considered to be a disease of infancy and early childhood, and its occurrence in an adult is rare. With advancing age, resistance toH influenzaeincreases, as shown by the bactericidal action of most adults' serum on the organism.¹, ²Meningitis due toH influenzaein adults is unusual; Merselis et al³in a review of the medical literature in English collected 44 cases to which they added a series of 11. A much rarer manifestation of disease due to the organism is pyarthrosis with only three cases previously described in adults. Dyer et al⁴described a case which involved a 48-year-old female with multiple articular involvement in whom joint fluid culture was positive forH influenzae; blood cultures were negative. The case of a 59-year-old female with pyarthrosis due toH influenzaewas reviewed by Weaver and Sherwood.⁵Meligrano