Pericardial tamponade caused by pneumococcus in a 6-month-old child

Abstract

With the widespread use of antibiotics, cases of pneumococcal pericarditis in infants and children have decreased significantly. Since the implementation of routine heptavalent pneumococcal immunization in 2000, these cases have become even rarer. While rare and life threatening, patients with invasive pneumococcal infections usually have a good outcome if diagnosed early and treated adequately. Since 1980, we found reports of only 13 children with pneumococcal pericarditis in PubMed. We describe another case of invasive pneumococcal infection in an infant with purulent pericarditis leading to tamponade and constrictive pericarditis.