Mediterranean spotted fever presenting as oculoglandular syndrome

Parinaud's Oculoglandular Syndrome: A Case in an Adult with Flea-Borne Typhus and a Review

Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome (POGS) is defined as unilateral granulomatous conjunctivitis and facial lymphadenopathy. The aims of the current study are to describe a case of POGS with uveitis due to flea-borne typhus (FBT) and to present a diagnostic and therapeutic approach to POGS. The patient, a 38-year old man, presented with persistent unilateral eye pain, fever, rash, preauricular and submandibular lymphadenopathy, and laboratory findings of FBT: hyponatremia, elevated transaminase and lactate dehydrogenase levels, thrombocytopenia, and hypoalbuminemia. His condition rapidly improved after starting doxycycline. Soon after hospitalization, he was diagnosed with uveitis, which responded to topical prednisolone. To derive a diagnostic and empiric therapeutic approach to POGS, we reviewed the cases of POGS from its various causes since 1976 to discern epidemiologic clues and determine successful diagnostic techniques and therapies; we found multiple cases due to cat scratch disease (CSD; due to Bartonella henselae) (twelve), tularemia (ten), sporotrichosis (three), Rickettsia conorii (three), R. typhi/felis (two), and herpes simplex virus (two) and single cases due to tuberculosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, Yersinia enterocolitica, Pasteurella multocida, Chlamydia trachomatis, Epstein-Barr virus, and Nocardia brasiliensis. Preauricular lymphadenopathy is a common clinical clue for POGS and is unusual in viral and bacterial conjunctivitis. For POGS, the major etiological consideration is B. henselae, which is usually diagnosed by the indirect immunofluorescence serologic technique. Although CSD POGS is usually self-limited, oral azithromycin may hasten resolution. However, other possible etiologies of POGS may also arise from cat or cat flea contact: sporotrichosis, tularemia, Pasteurella multocida, or FBT. If there is no cat contact, other epidemiologic and clinical findings should be sought, because several of these conditions, such as tularemia, paracoccidioidomycosis, and tuberculosis, may have grave systemic complications. Although there are usually no long-term ocular sequelae if POGS is properly diagnosed, it still may cause prolonged ocular discomfort and require multiple physician contacts.

Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome revealing subclinical Rickettsia conorii infection

The purpose of this study was to report a case of Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome associated with subclinical Rickettsia conorii infection. We report a case of a 66-year-old male patient presented with unilateral persistent granulomatous conjunctivitis in the left eye and an ipsilateral preauricular lymphadenopathy without associated systemic features. Laboratory evaluation showed a positive indirect immunofluorescence antibody test for R. conorii. The patient received a 2-week course of oral doxycycline, with subsequent complete resolution of all his symptoms. Rickettsial disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of oculoglandular syndrome with or without associated systemic symptoms in any patient living in or returning from a specific endemic area.

Parinaud'S oculoglandular syndrome associated with paracoccidioidomycosis

The authors report one case of Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome associated with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection. No other medical report of this condition was found in the medical literature available at Index Medicus and Medline. The eye involvement has been rather uncommon in paracoccidioidomycosis and this report emphasizes the possibility of this kind of presentation making it also necessary to include paracoccidioidomycosis among the several known causes of Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome.

New trends in Mediterranean spotted fever

Mediterranean Spotted Fever is a disease caused by Rickettsia conorii. It is endemic to the Mediterranean area, where, for the last few years, the number of cases has increased, possibly due, in part, to climatic factors. The main clinical aspects of a prospective series of 246 cases diagnosed from 1983 to 1988 are presented. The most characteristic manifestations were fever, exanthema and tache noire. Other frequent manifestations were headache, myalgia and arthralgia, and with lesser frequency, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, gastrointestinal symptoms and conjunctivitis. Notable analytical changes are the rise of hepatic and muscular enzymes in a large number of patients. In some cases we have found signs of myositis in muscular biopsy. The evolution of our patients was usually favorable though serious and even deadly forms of the disease have been described. One of the factors that seems to greatly influence the appearance of these forms is delay in the initiation of effective treatment.