title: Detection of Shigella sonnei in a respiratory specimen in a patient with subacute atypical pneumonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pneumonia caused by shigellosis with or without typical dysentery in immunocompetent patients is an uncommon entity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe a case of pneumonia in an immunocompetent, previously healthy middle-aged man from Switzerland without relevant travel history which was presumably caused by Shigella sonnei. He was originally admitted for suspected lung cancer. The clinical picture was remarkable as the patient presented with cough and purulent sputum production, but otherwise no classical signs of pneumonia. Furthermore, there was no diarrhoeal episode in the recent history. It is an uncommon presentation of shigellosis in an immunocompetent person without underlying severe predisposing conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report an unusual identification of S. sonnei as the only identified pathogen from respiratory specimens, which we therefore consider the most likely etiology of this subacute atypical pneumonia. This case illustrates the importance of a complete work-up in a patient whose suspected malignancy could not be proven.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital Sankt Gallen, Rorschacher Str. 95, 9007, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland. hiwa.nahid@kssg.ch.
authors.forename: Hiwa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7830-669X
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nahid
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital Sankt Gallen, Rorschacher Str. 95, 9007, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Désirée
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Staub
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Listeria (NENT), Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hächler
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, Kantonsspital Sankt Gallen, Sankt Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Werner C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Albrich
mesh_terms: D004405:Dysentery, Bacillary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D012764:Shigella sonnei / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013557:Switzerland; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Bacteraemia; Pneumonia; Shigella sonnei