ABSTRACT
Of the six known species of Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes is classified as the only human pathogen causing listeriosis, a highly fatal, opportunistic infection contracted via food. Listeria ivanovii is the only other pathogenic species of the genus and is considered to be specific to ruminants, except for extremely rare cases of infection in humans. We report here on a 64-year-old male patient with L. ivanovii who responded favorably to treatment with intravenous ampicillin.
ABSTRACT
Tumors of the Papilla of Vater can cause several clinical symptoms, the most prominent being jaundice, weight loss, anorexia, fever, abdominal pain and itching (1). Acute pancreatitis as a presenting symptom of ampullary carcinoma is rare. Few previous cases have been described in the literature (2,3). The prognosis of patients with jaundice is unfavorable in comparison with non icteric patients at the time of diagnosis (4) due to different staging, hence more complications, but not due to different histology. We report here a case of recurrent pancreatitis that was the only presentation of Vater ampullary carcinoma diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound followed by duodenoscopy with guided biopsy. Recurrent pancreatitis without identifiable cause, particularly in elderly patients, could suggest tumor of the head of pancreas or the periampullary region among other causes such as intraductal papillary mucinous tumor, microlithiasis etc. An endoscopic ultrasound can allow earlier diagnosis and mandates biopsy in these cases.
