Teenage boy with high fever and rash: what could we be missing?

A 15-year-old boy was admitted to a local hospital with high fever, generalised rash and a mild sore throat. He was started on intravenous flucloxacillin and 12 hours later develops a sustained low diastolic blood pressure (DBP), unresponsive to fluid volume expansion and cardiovascular support with dopamine. Intravenous clindamycin was added and transportation to paediatric intensive care unit arranged. Dopamine dosing was increased and norepinephrine infusion was added subsequently with immediate stabilisation of DBP. A sacrococcygeal pilonidal abscess was identified, requiring prompt surgical drainage. The microbiological culture of abscess material was positive for an enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus and Peptostreptococcus magnus He was free of symptoms after 4 days. This case report summarises a potential severe complication of the pilonidal disease. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.