title: [A short journey through spirochetal infections].
abstract: Spirochetal infections present with a variety of clinical syndromes and epidemiologic features. Diagnosis remains challenging for the clinician because of the often protean clinical presentation and poor performance of stan-dard microbiological tests. We present 3 clinical cases, illustrating interesting or unusual features of these infections. First, we present a case of leptospirosis acquired in Switzerland after a rat bite. We then present a case of early disseminated Lyme disease with multiple erythema migrans, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia and liver enzyme elevation. Finally, we present a case of secondary syphilis in an HIV-positive man, complicated by sensorineural deafness. For each case we highlight and discuss the specific epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic features.
authors.affiliation: Service des maladies infectieuses, Département de médecine, CHUV, 1011 Lausanne. Stefano.Giulieri@chuv.ch
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giulieri
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tissot
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000150:complications; D004890:Erythema / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051381:Rats; D013145:Spirochaetales Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*