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Clinical features

Authoring team

With orocervicofacial actinomycosis, patients may present with

  • fever
  • chronic painless or painful soft tissue swelling over the angle of the jaw and the adjacent tissues become greatly indurated. The skin develops a typical bluish discolouration. Sinuses then appear and these discharge thin pus. Pain may or may not be a feature, but there is usually marked trismus.
  • regional lymphadenopathy - usually absent until later stages.

A woody consistency of the lesions may lead to a misdiagnosis of malignancy

Bacteria may invade the local structures such as bone and muscle causing bone infection (periostitis and osteomyelitis), chewing difficulties and trismus (muscles of mastications) (1).

Reference:

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