Isolation of Clostridium tetani from anaerobic empyema.

We report the isolation of Clostridium tetani (along with Fusobacterium mortiferum) from empyema pus. The patient, a 68 year old retired farmer from rural NSW, had recently undergone cholecystectomy, had heart failure and developed an empyema. He improved after drainage of the empyema and penicillin therapy, but died suddenly during convalescence.