Paronychia, common infections of the nail fold, are usually attributed to Staphylococcus aureus or group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, although a number of other bacteria, viruses, and fungi have occasionally been isolated from these lesions.
HB-1 organisms, gram-negative, non-sporeforming rods with distinctive colonial morphology and growth requirements, only rarely infect normal infants and children.1 The association of these bacteria with superficial rather than deep infections is an even rarer occurrence.1 We would like to describe an otherwise normal child who developed a paronychia due to HB-1 bacteria, an association which, to our knowledge, has not been previously reported.
CASE REPORT
D.F., a 7-year-old boy, presented to St. Louis County Hospital with tenderness and swelling around his left fifth fingernail of two days' duration.