Incidentally Discovered Splenic Infarction Associated with Scrub Typhus
Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg.
Images in Clinical Tropical Medicine Incidentally Discovered Splenic Infarction Associated with Scrub Typhus
Jeong-Hwan Hwang 0 1 2
Chang-Seop Lee 0 1 2
0 Authors' addresses: Jeong-Hwan Hwang and Chang-Seop Lee, Depart- ment of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School , Jeonju , Republic of Korea
1 Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 561-756 Republic of Korea
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School , Jeonju , Republic of Korea; Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Chonbuk National University-Chonbuk National University Hospital , Jeonju , Republic of Korea
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
-
A 46-year-old woman was transferred to our emergency
room (ER) from another hospital because of pleural effusion
and general weakness. Five days before admission to our ER,
oral doxycycline treatment was begun on clinical suspicion of
scrub typhus. On physical examination by emergency medical
services personnel, the patient did not exhibit a skin rash, and
eschar was observed on the right posterior thigh aspect
(Figure 1). No abdominal tenderness was observed. On arrival
to our ER, transthoracic echocardiography was performed
because of both pleural effusion and general weakness, and
the results were within normal limits. On laboratory testing,
complete blood count was within normal range, as were other
chemical profiles except for the following: alkaline
phosphatase 229 IU/L, gamma-glutamyl transferase 153 IU/L,
aspartate aminotransferase 110 IU/L, and alanine aminotransferase
190 IU/L. Peripheral blood smear showed normal finding.
Coagulopathy testing did not reveal disseminated intravascular
coagulation, with negative results for lupus anticoagulant and
anticardiolipin antibody. Serology for Epstein–Barr virus was
also negative. The Orientia tsutsugamushi antibody titer using
the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test was 1:5,120.
Abdominal computed tomography was performed because of
abnormal liver function test results, which revealed a
wedgeshaped hypoperfusion area, suggesting splenic infarction
(Figure 2). During hospitalization, blood culture did not yield
any organism. Oral doxycycline was maintained for more
than 7 days. The patient’s clinical course improved, and
2 weeks after discharge, the patient was stable without
abdominal tenderness.
Focal or disseminated vasculitis is the major pathogenesis
of complications following scrub typhus.1 Scrub typhus can
lead to the involvement of various intra-abdominal organs.1
However, the pathogenesis of splenic infarction associated
with scrub typhus has not been previously documented, and
splenic complications such as splenic infarction may be extremely
rare and underreported.1,2
1. Raj SS , Krishnamoorthy A , Jagannati M , Abhilash KP , 2014 . Splenic infarct due to scrub typhus . J Glob Infect Dis 6 : 86 - 88 .
2. Jung JO , Jeon G , Lee SS , Chung DR , 2004 . Two cases of tsutsugamushi disease complicated with splenic infarction [in Korean]. Korean J Med 67 (Suppl 3): S932 - S936 . (...truncated)