Septic shock due to visceral leishmaniasis, probably transmitted from blood transfusion

A case of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in a 77-year-old woman, with renal failure on haemodialysis, admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) with vascular instability requiring vassopressor treatment, is presented. Initially, no co-infection could be detected. The patient initially responded well when liposomal amphotericin B was administered, after bone marrow demonstrated multiple intra-cellular Leishmania amastigotes and extra-cellular promastigotes. However, the patient died from uncontrolled septic shock from a secondary bacterial infection, the tenth day of admission. To our knowledge, vascular instability has not been reported in VL. Moreover, non-vector transmission was also suspected in this case. The patient had undergone cholecystectomy three months earlier, during which two blood units had been transfused; IgG anti-Leishmania antibodies at a high titer were detected in one of the two healthy blood donors, later.