Actinotignum schaalii is a pathogen that has been generally associated with urinary tract infections. Here we report a finding of A. schaalii found in a specimen from the drainage of a neck abscess in a 49-year-old male who was initially seen for a post-surgical follow-up visit for a surgical procedure on his foot. A gram-positive bacteria was isolated from drainage taken from the neck abscess and then characterized by Bruker MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. As is consistent with other reports, this fastidious bacteria was an unexpected finding and was likely a causative pathogen that could have been missed using traditional microbiology laboratory testing procedures not incorporating the Bruker MALDI-TOF.
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