Carrion's disease
| Carrion's disease | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | infectious disease |
| ICD-10 | A44.0 (ILDS A44.800) |
| ICD-9-CM | 088 |
| DiseasesDB | 1249 |
| MeSH | D001474 |
Oroya fever or Carrion's disease is an infectious disease produced by Bartonella bacilliformis infection.
It is named after Daniel Alcides Carrión.
The clinical symptoms of bartonellosis are pleomorphic and some patients from endemic areas may be asymptomatic. The two classical clinical presentations are the acute phase and the chronic phase, corresponding to the two different host cell types invaded by the bacterium (red blood cells and endothelial cells). An individual can be affected by either or both phases.
It is also called the hematic phase. The most common findings are fever (usually sustained, but with temperature no greater than 102 °F (39 °C)), pale appearance, malaise, painless liver enlargement, jaundice, enlarged lymph nodes, and enlarged spleen. This phase is characterized by severe hemolytic anemia and transient immunosuppression. The case fatality ratios of untreated patients exceeded 40% but reach around 90% when opportunistic infection with Salmonella spp occurs. In a recent study, the attack rate was 13.8% (123 cases) and the case-fatality rate was 0.7%.
Other symptoms include a headache, muscle aches, and general abdominal pain. Some studies have suggested a link between Carrion's disease and heart murmurs due to the disease's impact on the circulatory system. In children, symptoms of anorexia, nausea, and vomiting have been investigated as possible symptoms of the disease.
Most of the mortality of Carrion's disease occurs during the acute phase. Studies vary in their estimates of mortality. In one study, mortality has been estimated as low as just 1% in studies of hospitalized patients, to as high as 88% in untreated, unhospitalized patients. In developed countries, where the disease rarely occurs, it is recommended to seek the advice of a specialist in infectious disease when diagnosed. Mortality is often thought to be due to subsequent infections due to the weakened immune symptoms and opportunistic pathogen invasion, or consequences of malnutrition due to weight loss in children. In a study focusing on pediatric and gestational effects of the disease, mortality rates for pregnant women with the acute phase were been estimated at 40% and rates of spontaneous abortion in another 40%.
...
Wikipedia