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SUMMARY Kingella kingae is a bacterium that colonizes the upper respiratory tract. Despite its low pathogenicity in this location, previous respiratory pathological processes may favor its systemic spread causing bone and joint infections, mainly in children under five years. It can be considered an emerging pathogen in osteoarticular infection in pediatric patients. We report the case of a two-year-old girl with hips pain and limitation of both abduction and extension, and fever. Radiography and ultrasonography were compatible with transitory synovitis; showed scintigraphy inflammatory pathology of the right hip. Articular puncture was performed. The material showed altered biochemical parameters. Microbiological culture yielded isolation of a strain of K. kingae susceptible to beta-lactam antibiotics, azithromycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Blood cultures were negative. The patient was treated empirically with cloxacillin and cefotaxime iv. and continued with amoxicillinclavulanate orally with osteoarticular improvement.

Patient 1 was a 44-year-old woman, a journalist, who was attended to at the emergency unit of Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet for two pruriginous small lesions, each with a blackish center and a hyperkeratotic halo, on the heel of the right foot and a larger lesion adjacent to the distal edge of the nail of the fifth finger, approximately 1 cm in diameter. The previous month, she had traveled to Tanzania and Zanzibar Island, performing barefoot walks on sandy beaches and rocky areas. During the trip, she had presented an episode of gener- alized pruritus. The injuries were punctured with iodine anti- septic application, and the serous material was sent to the mi- crobiology laboratory. The direct microscopic examination showed brownish structures of arthropod parts and ovoid structures (Fig. 1, left). Resolution was satisfactory.

Answer: Tunga penetrans. For both patients, considering the characteristics of the lesions, the epidemiological history of travel, and the microscopic study, a diagnosis of tungiasis was made. Tunga penetrans (sand flea) is a hematophagous flea 1 mm in length, whose habitat is warm, dry, sandy

Kingella kingae is a bacterium that colonizes the upper respiratory tract. Despite its low pathogenicity in this location, previous respiratory pathological processes may favor its systemic spread causing bone and joint infections, mainly in children under five years. It can be considered an emerging pathogen in osteoarticular infection in pediatric patients. We report the case of a two-year-old girl with hips pain and limitation of both abduction and extension, and fever. Radiography and ultrasonography were compatible with transitory synovitis; showed scintigraphy inflammatory pathology of the right hip. Articular puncture was performed. The material showed altered biochemical parameters. Microbiological culture yielded isolation of a strain of K. kingae susceptible to beta-lactam antibiotics, azithromycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Blood cultures were negative. The patient was treated empirically with cloxacillin and cefotaxime iv. and continued with amoxicillin-clavulanate orally with osteoarticular improvement.