Diagnostic dilemma in an adolescent boy: Hemophagocytic syndrome in association with kala azar

Celik U., Alabaz D., Ailhan E., Bayram I., Celik T.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES, vol.334, no.2, pp.139-141, 2007 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is caused by infection with the hemoparasite Leishmania. The disease is a major public health problem in at least 88 countries, including Turkey. Prolonged fever with anorexia and loss of appetite are the major presenting features of visceral leishmaniasis. It is rarely defined as an etiological cause of hemophagocytic syndrome. The clinical course triggered by leishmania infection and hemophagocytosis may coincide, and this may lead to considerable diagnostic difficulty, especially in young children