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A "flu" that's hard
on the liver
How does low hemoglobin fit into
the clinical picture?
by Malvinder S. Parmar, MB
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One
winter afternoon, Matthew, a 30-year-old clerk with an unremarkable
past medical history, presents with symptoms of generalized malaise,
weakness with dry cough and increasing dyspnea. He's been suffering
from flu-like symptoms such as aches and pains, fever and muscle
cramps over the past 10 days. In fact, he went to the emergency
department 5 days ago but was sent home with the assurance that
he only had a viral syndrome. The following day, he noted discolouration
of his urine to dark orange. His appetite has been poor for a week
but he denies any nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. He also doesn't
have abdominal or chest pain, nor does he declare any joint pain,
skin rash or hair loss.
Further inquiry reveals that his son recently had the chicken pox
and that they had their furnace cleaned 3 weeks prior to the onset
of symptoms. They also got a cat and a dog in the past 3 months.
Matthew isn't on any medications and he doesn't smoke. While he
drinks socially, he denies any drug use.
Physical
examination reveals a listless young man with icterus. He's afebrile
and cervical and axillary lymph nodes are normal. On chest exam,
you find a resonant chest with fair air entry bilaterally and few
crackles at the right lung base. Heart sounds are normal without
any murmurs or added sounds. Abdominal examination is unremarkable
and non-tender; there's no hepatomegaly or splenomegaly. There's
also no pedal edema. Neurologic exam is non-focal.
A urinalysis shows a pH of 6.0, specific gravity of 1.015, 1+ protein,
1+ blood, 2+ bilirubin, 4+ urobilinogen and 0-5 WBC/HPF. Chest x-ray
reveals bilateral interstitial infiltrate, more prominent in the
right lower lung. An urgent abdominal ultrasound the next morning
is unremarkable, however. Specifically, there's no evidence of hepatobiliary
pathology. Hemoglobin has dropped to 67 g/L. What's your diagnosis?
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