title: Opportunistic infection in the patients with acute liver failure: a report of three cases with one fatality.
abstract: We report three cases of severe opportunistic infection in patients with acute liver failure (ALF). These cases included a 56-year-old man infected with Cryptococcus neoformans, cytomegarovirus (CMV), Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigates, as well as a 62-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman infected with pneumocystis pneumonia, CMV and Aspergillus fumigatus. One patient died as a result of the infection rather than liver failure. We stress the importance of opportunistic infection as a consideration in the use of immunosuppressive agents for the treatment of ALF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan. araim-cib@umin.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Imazeki
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yonemitsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukai
authors.affiliation: Division of Control and Treatment of Infectious Disease, Chiba University Hospital, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Division of Control and Treatment of Infectious Disease, Chiba University Hospital, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Clinical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yokosuka
keywords: Acute liver failure; Opportunistic infection