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“My foot hurts”: a flare of rheumatoid arthritis?
Author(s) -
Dugar Manish,
Rankin Wayne A,
Rowe Emily,
Smith Malcolm D
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02459.x
Subject(s) - rheumatoid arthritis , flare , foot (prosody) , medicine , dermatology , immunology , art , physics , astrophysics , literature
A 56-year-old man with a history of rheumatoid arthritis presented with a 2-day history of worsening pain in his left foot. Treatment with high-dose steroids was of no benefit, hence a diagnosis of septic arthritis was considered. However, the patient's condition deteriorated despite empirical antibiotic therapy. Following persistent investigation, the cause was identified as a fastidious Legionella longbeachae infection, and appropriate antibiotic therapy led to complete resolution of the sepsis. This emphasises the importance of considering infections with atypical organisms in patients on immunosuppressive therapy.