trimethoprim--sulfamethoxazole-drug-combination and Myocarditis

The manifestations of human monocytic ehrlichiosis range from a mild febrile syndrome to a severe multisystem illness. Myocardial involvement is uncommon. We report a woman, 78 years of age, who was treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole after a tick bite, in whom myocarditis was subsequently diagnosed. She recovered completely after doxycycline therapy.

Topics: Aged; Ehrlichia chaffeensis; Ehrlichiosis; Female; Humans; Myocarditis; Serotyping; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

The authors report a fatal case of acute bacterial myocarditis in a nonneutropenic child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She was admitted to the hospital with a urinary tract infection resulting from and remained persistently febrile despite resolution of the infection. On hospital day 4 signs of acute cardiac failure developed. Despite aggressive resuscitation measures, she died. Pathologic examination revealed the cause of death to be bacterial myocarditis. In addition, she was found to have a generalized decrease in her serum immunoglobulin levels. Acute bacterial myocarditis in patients with malignancy has been rarely reported. The rapid clinical deterioration and death in the patient in this report is particularly interesting.

Topics: Acute Disease; Agammaglobulinemia; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Cefotaxime; Child; Drug Therapy, Combination; Fatal Outcome; Female; Humans; Immunocompromised Host; Klebsiella Infections; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Myocarditis; Oxacillin; Pericarditis; Pleurisy; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma; Remission Induction; Shoulder Pain; Tobramycin; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; Urinary Tract Infections

The authors describe the case of a fifty-nine-year-old white man, previously in good health, who initiated his present illness with acute episode of enterocolitis characterized by mild fever and, in the next eight hours, twenty-four episodes of watery diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, as well as generalized sweating and severe weakness secondary to hypovolemia and electrolyte disorder. These complications were corrected in seventy-two hours in the intensive care unit. Two days later, when the patient was stable hemodynamically, under cardiac monitoring and with normal laboratory studies including serum electrolytes, he developed electrocardiographic changes characterized by trifascicular block (prolonged P-R interval, complete right bundle branch block [CRBBB] and left posterior hemiblock [LPH]) with a cardiac rate of thirty beats per minute, for which a temporary pacemaker was inserted. Endomyocardial biopsy showed histopathologic signs of myocarditis and the immunologic study of the cardiac tissue revealed positive polymerize chain reaction (PCR+) with the presence of antitoxine choleric antibodies (AcTCA). After three weeks, the same conduction disturbances remained, for which a permanent pacemaker was inserted. On top of intravenous fluid replacement and electrolyte supplements, the patient was managed with tetracycline 2 g a day for one week and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim 800/160 mg a day for two weeks. The purpose of this study is to present a rare and very well-documented myocarditis by cholera in a patient with enteric disease, in whom several cardiac complications occurred.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antibodies, Bacterial; Bradycardia; Bundle-Branch Block; Cholera; Diarrhea; Electrocardiography; Enterocolitis; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myocarditis; Nausea; Pacemaker, Artificial; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sweating; Tetracycline; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination; Vibrio cholerae; Vomiting