A 40-Year-Old Man Presents to the ED with a Painful

Multiple Choice

A 40-year-old man presents to the ED with a painful and swollen jaw. Two days ago he had a tooth extraction where the gums and jaw were swollen and painful. "Nodules" are felt below the surface of the tissues which are not lymph nodes. Which member of the gingival normal flora will grow contiguously into the damaged tissues, producing tissue swelling and ultimately, if untreated, will develop sinus tracts that will erupt to the surface, liberating the "nodules"?

A) Actinomyces israelii
B) Nocardia asteroides
C) Mycobacterium kansasii
D) Fusobacterium nucleatum