Respiratory failure caused by intrathoracic amoebiasis

Abstract

A 41-year-old male was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of diarrhea, fever and rapidly progressive respiratory distress. A chest radiograph and computed tomography (CT) of the chest and the abdomen showed a large amount of right pleural effusion and a large liver abscess. The patient was thus diagnosed to have amoebic colitis, amoebic liver abscess and amoebic empyema complicated with an HIV infection. The patient demonstrated agranulocytosis caused by the administration of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. However, the administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor made it possible for the patient to successfully recover from agranulocytosis, and he thereafter demonstrated a good clinical course.

Keywords:

• amebiasis
• amoebic empyema
• HIV
• agranulocytosis
• trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole

Disclosures

The authors disclose no conflicts of interest.