Purulent parotitis in the newborn

Purulent parotitis is extremely rare in the neonatal period. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common etiologic agent and less frequently, E. coli and Pseudomonas strains. Two cases in a 27- and a 25-day-old newborn are presented. In both, cultures of the pus yielded S. aureus. The first case was diagnosed at an early stage and the child made an uneventful recovery after antibiotic therapy. In the second, diagnosis was delayed and an abscess of the parotid developed which required surgical drainage in addition to antibiotics. In the first case S. aureus with an identical antibiotic sensitivity pattern was recovered from the mother's nose, suggesting maternal origin of the pathogen.