Neumonía grave por Streptococcus pyogenes: Reporte de un caso

during the past two decades there has been a resurgence ofinvasive group a streptococcal (gas) infection, specially pneumonia and bacteremia. we report a 35 year-old female previously subjected to a thyroidectomy for a thyroid cáncer, that five days after operation, presented with a severe community-acquired pneumonia caused by streptococcus pyogenes (lancefield group a streptococcus) that was complicated by acute respiratory failure and septic shock. she was treated with a combination of 3 g/day of cefotaxime and 1.8 g/day of clindamycin with a good clinical response and discharged from the hospital in good conditions. although this microorganism is an uncommon cause of community-acquired pneumonia, previously healthy individuals may be infected and the clinical course may be fulminant. patients with invasive gas infection admitted to icu have a high mortality rate. treatment of choice of group a streptococcal infection is penicillin. however, clindamycin should be added in severe infections .