‘Insidious onset of symptoms’: Holiday sandfly bite triggers rare parasitic disease two years later
The patient was first diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis after six months of symptoms.
An Australian man’s sandfly bite in Greece two years previously triggered a diagnostic dilemma culminating in a rare diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis, Melbourne doctors report.
The 72-year-old was admitted to a tertiary hospital in Victoria for investigation of fevers, night sweats and unintentional weight loss of 18kg over six months.
He had pancytopenia with no symptoms to suggest a focal infection, malignancy or rheumatological disease, Melbourne doctors write in a Medical Journal of Australia case report.
Previous outpatient scans had revealed mild splenomegaly; however bone marrow aspirate and a PET scan were normal.
