Orthopnea as a trigger for a diagnostic cascade of multiple infectious diseases

Dyspnea is a common clinical symptom and cause of outpatient and inpatient presentations to the clinic. Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges appear, when additional diseases appear that are themselves associated with subjectively perceptible dyspnea. We report on a young woman with orthopnea as a trigger of a diagnostic cascade of various diseases.

A 34-year-old woman presented to our emergency department with breathing-dependent, burning thoracic pain, purulent sputum and hemoptysis for three days. Pre-existing diagnoses were psoriasis vulgaris and diabetes mellitus (type 2). Human monoclonal antibody secukinumab and methotrexate were regular drugs.We suspected a community-acquired pneumonia or bacterial co-infection of acute COVID-19. A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) led to the detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii-specific DNA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was detected in the BAL, sputum and port pocket. An additional finding was a herpes zoster infection on the thorax. Further, Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected in transthoracic puncture. Guideline-based quadruple therapy (rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol) led to severe hepatotoxic side effects with the need of modifying the therapy.

Immunosuppression can lead to several associated infectious diseases. Before starting anti-TNF or anti-interleukin therapy, latent tuberculosis must always be ruled out. The need for cortisone therapy in immunocompromised people with COVID-19 disease must be evaluated.