Mastitis is an inflammatory condition of the breast. This may or may not be accompanied by infection of the breast (1).
Symptoms suggestive of an infection may be seen in both infectious and non infectious mastitis although pyrexia (flu like) symptoms is more likely to persist for longer than 24 hours in infectious mastitis and may also produce considerable breast discomfort (1).
Clinical features of mastitis include:
In around 3% of patients, mastitis may be complicated by a breast abscess (1).
Common organisms responsible for mastitis and breast abscess are
The majority of breast infections may be divided into four groups:
Key points with respect to management in adults (2):
Reference:
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