We report a rare case of multiple vertebral osteomyelitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae.
A 73 year-old man admitted for back pain and a low-grade fever was found in laboratory studies to have severe leukocytosis and increased C-reactive protein, but neither computed tomography (CT) nor vertebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) clarified the cause of infection in the painful hip lesion, and paralysis developed. in the left leg MRI eventually indicated a vertebral abscess involving multiple lesions at C4-7 and L4-5.
We had started antibiotics before blood culture clarified Streptococcus pneumoniae, and antibiotics acted more effectively thereafter. The clinical course was good, little paralysis remained.