Fatal intracerebral hemorrhage due to leptospirosis

H J Theilen1, C Lück, U Hanisch

  • 1Dept of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Medical Faculty, Technical University of Dresden, Germany. theilen@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de

Infection
|May 23, 2002
PubMed

Intracerebral hemorrhage in leptospirosis is a rare event. We report on a fatal case of intracerebral hemorrhage complicating leptospirosis in a 47-year-old sewage drain worker. Since substantial thrombocytopenia was observed during the course of the disease, postmortem autopsy was performed to further elucidate the genesis of platelet destruction. Due to immunohistological findings, immunologically mediated thrombolysis was considered responsible for thrombocytopenia, whereas no signs of disseminated intravasal coagulopathy or deranged platelet production in the bone marrow were detected.

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