A rare occurrence of hairy cell leukemia in a congolese child: a presentation and challenge of diagnosis in low resource settings.

BACKGROUND: Hairy cell leukemia is a rare form of leukemia and has been rarely reported in African and pediatric population. OBSERVATION: We are reporting a 4-year-old child who was received for investigation for persistent anemia, prolonged fever, and thrombocytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration showed hypercellular marrow with cells characterized by irregular windblown-appearing cell borders with pseudopod-like projections. Our patient presented with hairy cell leukemia. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis was thought to be most consistent with hairy cell leukemia based on the distinctive morphology of the cells.