ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and genetic characteristics of neonatal-onset protein C deficiency (PCD).Methods:The clinical data of a newborn patient with severe PCD admitted to our neonatal department was reviewed. Databases including CNKI, Wanfang Database, CMB, VIP database, PubMed, Embase and SCI database were searched using" infantile", " neonate ", "newborn", "protein C deficiency" and "purpura fulminans" as key words. Published cases of PCD were analyzed.Results:The patient was a full-term female infant who developed multiple symptoms within 2 days after birth. The symptoms included thrombocytopenia, intracranial hemorrhage, purpura fulminans (PF), disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), celiac hemorrhage, hypertension, portal and iliac vein thrombosis, purulent meningitis and retinal detachment. Protein C activity was less than 10%. Genetic tests showed compound heterozygous mutations c.314G>T (p.c105f) of paternal origin and c.1218G>A (p.m406i) of maternal origin in PROC gene. According to ACMG guidelines, the mutations were strongly suspected pathogenic variants and consistent with an autosomal recessive (AR) inheritance pattern. The patient was discharged after 6 weeks of treatment at parents' request of withdrawal. A total of 25 articles on 29 patients with relatively complete clinical data were retrieved, including 18 males and 11 females. 4 patients were preterm and 25 full-term. 28 patients showed symptoms within 7 days after birth. The common clinical features were cutaneous PF and splanchnic thrombi. 22 cases documented protein C activity and ranged from 0 to 25%. 16 patients had PROC gene abnormalities and compound heterozygous mutations were found in 10 patients. Among the 22 patients with prognostic data, 11 died (9 within 3 months after birth), the remaining survivors suffered from sequelae including severe intellectual motor development disorder, epilepsy and blindness.Conclusions:The main clinical manifestations of neonatal-onset PCD include PF, DIC, multi-organ hemorrhage and thrombus. The disease is acute and severe, with rapid progression, poor prognosis and high fatality rate. Protein C activity and PROC gene testing may help establish the diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
Introduction.Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus) causes a severe infection that develops in the compromised host. Its pathophysiology is classified into three types: (1) primary septicaemia, (2) gastrointestinal illness pattern and (3) wound infection pattern. Of these, primary septicaemia is critical. V. vulnificus can be classified into three biotypes and two genotypes and its pathogenicity is type-dependent. Case presentation. A 47-year-old man presented to a local hospital with chief complaints of fever, bilateral lower limb pain and diarrhoea. He had no history of foreign travel or known medical problems. He was in septic shock and developed fulminant purpura within 24 h of the onset. High-dose vasopressor and antibiotic administration failed to alter his status and he died 3 days after the onset of symptoms. V. vulnificus was isolated from blood, skin and nasal discharge cultures. Biotype and gene analysis of the microbe isolated identified it as Biotype 3, mainly reported in Israel in wound infections, and Genotype E, implicating an environmental isolate. These typing analyses indicated that the microbe isolated could be classified as a type with low pathogenicity. Conclusion. This case highlighted that Biotype 3 and Genotype E can also cause primary septicaemia. Although the majority of reports on Biotype 3 have been from the Middle East, this experience with the present case provided evidence that the habitat of Biotype 3 V. vulnificus has been extending to East Asia as well.
