Perirectal Abscess in Childhood

A total of 29 cases of perirectal abscess at Milwaukee Children's Hospital between 1965 and 1975 were retrospectively reviewed. One fourth of these children had a serious underlying chronic disease. Staphylococcus aureaus was the organism that grew most frequently from pus obtained from the abscesses, accounting for 52% of the isolates. Therapy included incision and drainage alone and incision and drainage plus parenteral and/or oral antibiotic treatment. One patient, a child with leukemia, died of this infection. Complications, primarily fistulain-ano or recurrent abscess, occurred in 42% of the survivors.