Clinical description of human bocavirus viremia in children with LRTI, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

Human bocavirus [HBoV] is a major etiology of lower respiratory tract infection [LRTI] in young children. We tested 149 patients admitted to King Fahd Hospital of the University with diagnosis of LRTI. Viremia caused by the different studied viruses was detected in 31.5% of the total cases by Real-time Polymerase chain reaction. We report five patients who were positive for HBoV in serum samples. Clinical presentation ranged from mild to severe disease as one of them required admission to intensive care unit. Wheezing was a striking feature in most of our patients, but fever was not a consistent finding

unusual cause of hemoptysis in a young male patient

Leptospirosis is an acute generalized infectious disease, caused by spirochaetes, Leptospira interrogans. The severity of the disease ranges from an asymptomatic subclinical course to a fatal outcome. Pulmonary involvement is common but often mild and of little clinical significance. However, over the last two decades an increasing number of cases have been reported with pulmonary haemorrhage as a prominent feature. We describe here a case of leptospirosis who presented with cough and hemoptysis. The patient acquired the disease in Saudi Arabia. Even in the absence of any travel, the association of fever, hemoptysis, jaundice, and thrombocytopenia, should lead to the suspicion of leptospirosis. Clinical and epidemiological aspects of the disease are discussed in the article