Acute enteritis associated with pneumococcal bacteremia.

We describe an elderly male who had a two day history of fever, abdominal pain and watery loose motions. Clinical examination was positive for abdominal right lower quadrant tenderness and moderate dehydration. Stool examination revealed inflammatory diarrhea. Considering the high prevalence of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) producing Gram-negative infections, he was treated with Piperacillin/Tazobactam. Surprisingly, his blood culture which was taken on admission returned positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae after two days, which was coincident with resolution of fever and diarrhea. This patient had no other clinically apparent source of Pneumococcal infection and we believe that he had Pneumococcal enteritis with bacteremia. There are very few reported cases of isolated Pneumococcal enteritis in the literature. Therefore, we report this unusual form of Streptococcus pneumnoniae infection both because of its rarity and its potentially life-threatening but still curable nature.