[Gonococcal conjunctivitis in a young woman]. / Conjonctivite à gonocoque chez une jeune adulte.

We describe the management of a female patient who developed an uncomplicated unilateral purulent conjunctivitis with no other clinical signs. The typical clinical presentation and Gram stain of the discharge suggested gonococcal conjunctivitis, allowing treatment to be initiated. Indeed, a strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistant to penicillin and tetracycline was isolated. In collaboration with the patient's primary care physician, management included lavage of the infected eye, systemic antibiotic treatment with erythromycin and topical antibiotic treatment with azithromycin, followed by local steroid treatment in response to persistent hyperemia, which was discontinued and replaced by azithromycin again because of recurrent discharge. Eleven days after the first consultation, a complete cure was achieved without sequelae, and a final check to rule out a residual gonococcal carrier state is planned. Gonococcal conjunctivitis, a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency, is a potentially blinding sexually transmitted disease with which general practitioners and ophthalmologists are not well aquainted. Although rare in developed countries, its incidence is rising in parallel with the global recrudescence of gonococcal infections. This case of gonococcal conjunctivitis is discussed as a review of the clinical and biological elements necessary for diagnosis and therapeutic management, which must occur as early as possible, taking into account rapidly increasing gonococcal resistance to antimicrobial therapies, so as to interrupt spread of the disease.

[Consciousness disorders and severe haemolytic anaemia in a patient coming from overseas]. / Syndrome confusionnel et anémie hémolytique au retour d'outre-mer.

A 54-years-old patient coming from Guinea, who presented fever, diarrhoea, consciousness disorders and severe haemolytic anaemia, was admitted to resuscitation unit in France. Despite many explorations carried out (evaluation of traumatic causes, infection, neoplasia, vascular, toxic causes, vitamin deficiency), it was not possible to explain neurological symptomatology. Besides, haemolytic anaemia was due to the ingestion of metamizole in a context of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficit. This drug's marketing has been suspended in France since 2006. Despite appropriate treatment, after seven days of hospitalization, the patient died of multi-organ failure and hemophagocytic syndrome. This clinical case illustrates the difficulties encountered to set a diagnosis and manage patients coming from overseas. Uncommon aetiologies for French healthcare professionals should be evoked in the absence of comprehensive clinical information.