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Rare disease
Visceral leishmaniasis in immunosuppressed Caucasian patient
  1. Muhammad TOQEER1,
  2. Nadeem Rahman1,
  3. Mark W Whitehead1,
  4. Diana Lockwood2
  1. 1Gastroenterology Department, Conquest Hospital, St Leonard’s On Sea, UK
  2. 2Department of Tropical Medicine, University College London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Muhammad TOQEER, muhammad.toqeer{at}nhs.net

Summary

A 64-year-old man was admitted with fever, weight loss, fatigue and night sweats. He was known to have rheumatoid arthritis and had been taking methotrexate for 1 year. He had worked in Saudi Arabia until 1994 and had been living in Spain for 6 months every year. Clinical examination showed an enlarged spleen. Routine investigations showed pancytopaenia. Serial blood cultures were negative. CT scan confirmed splenomegaly and was otherwise unremarkable. Bone marrow biopsy revealed Leishmania amastigote consistent with a diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. After discussing with the hospital for tropical diseases (HTD), he was started on liposomal amphotericin B. Following two infusions of amphotericin B, he started improving as his fever, night sweats and weakness had settled. He was then discharged and followed up in HTD clinic 4 weeks later where he was found to be consistently improving.

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Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.