Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Langgartner.
Causes of acute vomiting are mostly harmless and readily amenable to treatment, so that the condition thus has a good prognosis. In more rare cases, however, it might also be a symptom accompanying a more serious--even life-threatening--illness. A meticulous diagnostic investigation and effective treatment is therefore mandatory.
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HISTORY AND ADMISSION FINDINGS: A 26-year-old woman, for 3 years known to have systemic lupus erythematodes (SLE), was admitted because of fever, muscle and joint pains as well as nausea and vomiting. Maintenance therapy of 50 mg azathioprine, three times daily, had been stopped by the patient several weeks earlier. Physical examination was unremarkable except for pale skin and mucosae as well as pain on pressure over muscle groups of the upper arms and thighs and paravertebrally. DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND COURSE: Laboratory tests showed a pancytopenia with a decrease of the haemoglobin level of 3.0 g/dl. The differential diagnosis included an acute exacerbation of SLE, toxic damage to the bone-marrow by azathioprine or a viral infection involving the bone-marrow. Serological tests and the further course confirmed an acute paravirus B19 infection as the cause. CONCLUSION: Paravirus B19 infection should be included in the differential diagnosis when an acute exacerbation of SLE is suspected.