Fever, leukocytosis, and referred thigh pain.

The patient, a 43-year-old man with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, presented four days after sustaining a dog bite on his right hand, complaining of excruciating, intermittent, right thigh pain. He was febrile (temperature, 38.3 degrees C [101 degrees F]) and had a leukocyte count of 27.8 x 10(9) per liter (27,800 per mm3). On physical examination, he had a 2-cm open wound with minimal purulent drainage on the fourth digit of his right hand. He had some limited range of motion of the right hip and focal muscular tenderness in the medial thigh, but no other infectious or neurologic findings. A radiographic evaluation included chest, lumbar, right femur, and pelvic films and a computed tomographic (CT) scan of the abdomen; all were normal. In addition, a nuclear medicine scan showed no signs of infection. A CT scan and a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the pelvis were done (Figures 1 and 2).