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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2013; 03(02): 53-55
DOI: 10.4103/2231-0770.114133
CASE REPORT

Alcoholic leukopenic pneumococcal sepsis

Abdul Hamid Alraiyes
Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Environmental Medicine, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
,
Khaldoon Shaheen
Department of Hospital Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Institute of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
,
M Chadi Alraies
Department of Hospital Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Institute of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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Abstract

Alcohol abuse has been associated with an increased mortality and morbidity due to increased aspiration, delirium tremens, and seizures. The association of pneumococcal lung infections and leukopenia in the setting of alcohol abuse are rarely reported; however, when present, severe lung infections can happen with severe lung injury and poor response to conventional therapy and ultimately, death. We are reporting a case of 55-year-old-man presented with shortness of breath, cough and altered mental status and eventually found with severe pneumococcal lung infection in the setting of leukopenia and long-term alcohol abuse representing alcoholic leukopenic pneumococcal sepsis syndrome.

Keywords

Alcohol abuse - leukopenia - pneumonia


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2013. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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