Prevertebral soft tissues appear normal. Three weeks later, while the patient is still being treated with antibiotic for urinary tract infection, the neck pain becomes more severe and the patient has difficulty swallowing.
Neurologic examination is normal.
The patient is treated vigorously for osteomyelitis E coli . The swallowing function returns to normal and neck pain decreases. However, four weeks into the treatment the patient develops a neurologic finding related to the lower cervical cord region. Sagittal proton density and T2 images of the cervical spine show marked narrowing of C6-7 disc space with destruction of the cortices of the C6 and 7 vertebrae at the same level. Nothing on this World Wide Web site should be considered medical advice.