Haemorrhage, hyponatraemia and more than just a hack.

A 43-year-old previously healthy solicitor presented with a 9-day history of cough productive of yellow sputum with a prodrome of sore throat and myalgia. The cough was paroxysmal in nature and severe enough to cause extensive bilateral subconjunctival haemorrhages and cough syncopes multiple times a day, with one bout of associated haematemesis on the day of admission. He was isolated, treated for a presumed atypical chest infection with tazocin and clarithromycin, and monitored carefully until the hyponatraemia on presentation was resolved. Atypical screen and blood cultures were sent off, though unexciting at first, eventually confirmed the unlikely; Bordetella pertussis, much to the surprise of many who had Legionella as the top differential.

Demographic study of expulsive hemorrhages in 3 patients with infectious keratitis.

PURPOSE: To investigate the demography, causative bacteria, and clinical findings in 3 patients with expulsive hemorrhage. METHODS: The clinical records of 3 patients (3 eyes), who developed expulsive hemorrhage because of infectious keratitis and were treated at our hospital between December 2006 and January 2008, were investigated retrospectively. RESULTS: Three women, older than 70 years, with physical and mental disabilities because of senile dementia were studied. Two were residents at a nursing home. Basic corneal disorders included bullous keratopathy, cicatricial syphilitic keratitis, and traumatic keratitis because of a foreign body. All patients developed expulsive hemorrhage. Two patients underwent enucleation, and 1 underwent bulbar exenteration with sclerocorneal patch for expulsive hemorrhage. Bacterial culture in these cases isolated either Capnocytophaga sp. and penicillin-intermediate resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first recorded case of Capnocytophaga keratitis in Japan. Patients with dementia may develop severe ocular complications after infectious keratitis because of their inability to communicate.

Neonatal haemorrhagic conjunctivitis: a specific sign of chlamydial infection.

OBJECTIVE: To review the bacteriological causes and clinical features of acute neonatal conjunctivitis in a local paediatric centre. DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: Paediatric unit of a regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS: All neonates who presented to Tuen Mun Hospital from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2002 with persistent eye discharge and a positive eye swab culture. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical features of neonates with chlamydial and non-chlamydial conjunctivitis. RESULTS: Of 90 neonates with positive eye swab or conjunctival scraping cultures, Chlamydia trachomatis was the second most common (n=19, 21%) cause of acute neonatal conjunctivitis after Staphylococcus aureus (n=32, 36%). All of the neonates with chlamydial conjunctivitis were delivered vaginally: two of them had concomitant chlamydial pneumonia. Neisseria gonorrhoeae conjunctivitis was rare (n=1, 1%). None of the mothers of neonates with Chlamydia had any history of sexually transmitted disease. The timing of presentation, gestational age, birth weight, and sex of the neonates did not suggest a risk of chlamydial infection. Nonetheless haemorrhagic eye discharge had a specificity of 100% and positive predictive value of 100% for chlamydial infection. There were no adverse ophthalmological consequences or complications of pyloric stenosis in any neonate following treatment with oral erythromycin. CONCLUSIONS: Haemorrhagic eye discharge is a highly specific sign of neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis. Early and prompt treatment with oral erythromycin is safe and effective.

Ocular signs of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis: a retrospective study in dogs from Barcelona, Spain.

Canine monocytic ehrlichiosis (CME) is a tick-borne disease caused by the rickettsia Ehrlichia canis. Ocular lesions are a common feature of the disease and can be present in all stages. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence, type and response to treatment of ocular lesions associated with monocytic ehrlichiosis in 46 affected dogs presented to the Autonomous University of Barcelona-Veterinary Teaching Hospital (UAB-VTH) from January 2000 to December 2002. Dogs were included in the study only if they had a positive serologic test for E. canis and information about the clinical outcome was available. Eighteen breeds were represented, with the German Shepherd dog (n = 6) being the most common. There were 25 intact and three castrated males, and 16 intact and two neutered females. Twenty dogs (43.4%) were between 5 and 10 years old. Seventeen dogs (37% of all cases of monocytic ehrlichiosis diagnosed during the study period) had ocular signs, and 11 dogs (64.7% of the ocular cases) had only ocular lesions without apparent systemic signs. Exudative retinal detachment was the most common ocular manifestation; other prevalent findings included anterior exudative uveitis and optic neuritis. Five of the 17 cases with ocular lesions (29.4%) had ocular bleeding disorders (hyphema or retinal hemorrhages). All the dogs with ocular disease presented with bilateral signs. Dogs with posterior segment disease had titers against E. canis that were > or = 1 : 320, while lower titers were noted in dogs with anterior exudative uveitis. Two dogs presented with chronic autoimmune panuveitis after ehrlichiosis treatment. Canine ehrlichiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of exudative retinal detachment and anterior uveal inflammatory lesions.