A 3-day-old boy with a right preauricular swelling

Bilateral acute neonatal suppurative parotitis: A rare finding in neonatal age

Acute suppurative parotitis is a rare entity in neonates. Bilateral involvement is extremely rare. Low birth weight, prematurity, gavage feeding, dehydration, sepsis are all known risk factors. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common organism, other organisms responsible for parotitis are streptococcus, E. coli, pseudomonas and klebsiella. We report a neonate suffering from bilateral acute suppurative parotitis with an unusual causative association. CPAP and its association for acute suppurative parotitis has been proposed.

Neonatal suppurative parotitis over the last 4 decades: report of three new cases and review

BACKGROUND

Neonatal suppurative parotitis is a rare disease. Only 32 cases were reported in the English-language literature between 1970 and 2004.

METHODS

We searched Medline for acute, neonatal, bacterial, suppurative, parotitis, facial, preauricular swelling starting from 1970, limiting our search to the English-language literature. We reviewed all the reported cases together with three more managed in our department.

RESULTS

We identified nine new cases since 2004. The total number of patients reviewed was 44, including our patients. Most of them were male (77%). The majority developed unilateral inflamed parotid swelling (77%) and exuded pus from the ipsilateral Stensen duct. Fever was seen in fewer than half of them (47%). Premature babies constituted a third of the patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the leading causative agent (61%). Most patients responded well to conservative treatment with antibiotics (77%). The most frequently used combination of antibiotics was an anti-staphylococcal agent with either an aminoglycoside or a third-generation cephalosporin. A minority required surgical drainage. No deaths were reported in the group studied after 1970.

CONCLUSION

Neonatal suppurative parotitis is rare but easy to diagnose and if readily treated with appropriate antibiotics the outcome is excellent.