Purulent pericardial effusion from community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus

Although the incidence of purulent pericarditis has decreased significantly in the modern antibiotic era, a high index of clinical suspicion should be maintained to diagnose this life-threatening illness at an early stage. Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is a global pathogen and notorious for its ability to cause infection in otherwise healthy individuals. However, it has been associated with purulent pericarditis only in some sporadic case reports. The authors describe a case of purulent pericardial effusion caused by CA-MRSA infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the fourth case of CA-MRSA pericarditis to be reported in English literature.