Belgian Journal of Paediatrics
Prolonged fever, splenomegaly and pancytopenia in a 4-year-old child: don’t forget Leishmania

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Keywords

visceral Leishmaniasis
pediatrics
Leishmania infantum
splenomegaly
pancytopenia

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How to Cite

Ssoussi Addi, K., Ulgiati, F., Blumental, S., Adams, B., Smeesters, P. R., & Mignon, C. (2023). Prolonged fever, splenomegaly and pancytopenia in a 4-year-old child: don’t forget Leishmania. Belgian Journal of Paediatrics, 23(1), 69–71. Retrieved from http://belgjpaediatrics.com/index.php/bjp/article/view/181 (Original work published April 12, 2021)

Abstract

We report the case of a four-year-old boy returning from Morocco admitted to our hospital with a two-months history of fever and abdominal distension. He had a splenomegaly and a pancytopenia. Anti-leishmania antibodies were found by indirect immunofluorescence test on patient’s blood. The presence of Leishmania infantum DNA in bone marrow was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction  establishing the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum. The child was treated with liposomal amphotericin B. Visceral leishmaniasis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children with persistent fever, hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia with travel history to endemic areas.

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