Destructive pulmonary disease due to mixed anaerobic infection.

Pulmonary infection is one of the commonest infections in childhood and is responsible for considerable mortality and morbidity, especially in Nigeria. Most infections are caused by Staphylococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae, though occasionally other organisms such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, coliform, and salmonella are responsible. Rarely does one encounter mixed infection with Clostridium welchii, coliform, and anaerobic streptococci organisms which are the causative organisms in the case reported here. The child presented with features of a bronchopneumonia and empyema, and was later shown to have destructive lung disease due to unusual organisms. This diagnosis was reached on the basis of the radiological finding and bacteriological examination of the sputum. The child was treated with appropriate antibiotics and postural drainage and, when the condition had improved, was subjected to thoracotomy and excision of the diseased lung. He made an uneventful recovery.