RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Acute painless pancreatitis as an unusual presentation of leptospirosis in a low-incidence country
JF BMJ Case Reports
JO BMJ Case Reports
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e234988
DO 10.1136/bcr-2020-234988
VO 13
IS 8
A1 Ami Schattner
A1 Ina Dubin
A1 Yair Glick
A1 Elizabeth Nissim
YR 2020
UL http://casereports.bmj.com/content/13/8/e234988.abstract
AB A healthy, urban-dwelling man presented with lassitude, jaundice without increased liver enzymes or obstructive features on imaging, brief acute kidney injury, leucocytosis with near-normal C reactive protein and markedly increased serum amylase and lipase. Leptospirosis was not considered for 10 days because of the low incidence of the disease in the country, absent animal contact and physicians’ low index of suspicion. Presentation without fever and without the commonly associated abdominal pain, myalgia, headache, thrombocytopaenia or elevated serum creatine kinase added to the diagnostic challenge. Once an infectious cause of acute pancreatitis was contemplated, leptospirosis was immediately sought and diagnosed by PCR of urine and microscopic agglutination test, and he fully recovered on ceftriaxone. Physicians in countries with a low incidence of leptospirosis should be more aware of the possibility of the disease even when several key features such as fever or pain are missing and the patient has a rare infectious acute pancreatitis.