Migrating foreign body of the neck as a cause of recurrent febrile lymphadenopathy

A 15-year-old girl was referred to our Pediatric Emergency Unit because of recurrent fever associated with a painful right laterocervical mass over the previous four months, which was unresponsive to various antimicrobial therapies. During surgery, performed to obtain a biopsy, an unexpected vegetable thin fibre, about 1.2 cm long, was found among the laterocervical lymph nodes. The patient subsequently experienced complete clinical remission and told us that about one month before the development of symptoms she had felt a punctory sensation in the floor of her mouth after she had been playing with a blade of grass between her lips.