Visceral leishmaniasis misdiagnosed as malignant lymphoma.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a chronic infectious disease caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania, characterized by intermittent fever, monocytosis, hepatosplenomegaly and hypergammaglobulinemia. This morbid condition is rather difficult to diagnose correctly, especially at its early stage, because it is rarely encountered in Japan. Recently we treated a case of visceral leishmaniasis in which the patient was misdiagnosed as malignant lymphoma, and went through splenectomy and steroid administration, which made the diagnosis more difficult.
Kawakami
A
A
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University School of Medicine.
Fukunaga
T
T
Usui
M
M
Asaoka
H
H
Noda
M
M
Nakajima
T
T
Hashimoto
Y
Y
Tanaka
A
A
Kishi
Y
Y
Numano
F
F
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D007194:India; D007564:Japan; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D013156:Splenectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology