Septic arthritis caused by kingella kingae; a case report

Abstract

Objective: Kingella kingae is, a short gram-negative rod that is a normal part of the oral flora rarely causes septic arthritis. We report a case of documented arthritis caused by kingella kingea in Emam Hossein Hospital Tehran.
Case report: An eight- year-old boy referred to hospital with high fever, pain and swelling in knee joint. Past medical history revealed minor thalassemia.
Synovial fluid was aspirated from knee joint and transported to trypticase soy broth and thioglycollate broth mediums. Culture incubated in 37oC during 24 hours. The genus and species of bacteria determined by diagnostic tests. The gram staining showed plump gram- negative rods that tended to occur in pairs and short chains. Culture was positive for kingella kingae. It was sensitive to B-lactam antibiotics.
Conclusion: Kingella kingae rarely causes systemic disease in children and even when defense mechanisms are impaired. Kingella kingae is fastidious microbe and often difficult to culture. Therefore, it is important to use enriched medium to inoculate joint fluid.