Scrub typhus is an acute febrile disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi （0. tsutsugamushi）. We report herein the case of a woman who presented with fever and elevated serum levels of liver enzymes and who was defi...Scrub typhus is an acute febrile disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi （0. tsutsugamushi）. We report herein the case of a woman who presented with fever and elevated serum levels of liver enzymes and who was definitively diagnosed with scrub typhus by his- topathological examination of liver biopsy specimens, serological tests and nested polymerase chain reaction. Immunohistochemical staining using a monoclonal an- ti-O. tsutsugamushi antibody showed focally scattered positive immunoreactions in the cytoplasm of some hepatocytes. This case suggests that scrub typhus hepatitis causes mild focal inflammation due to direct liver damage without causing piecemeal necrosis or interface hepatitis. Thus, scrub typhus hepatitis differs from acute viral hepatitis secondary to liver damage due to host immune responses, which causes severe Iobular disarray with diffuse hepatocytic degeneration, necrosis and apoptosis as well as findings indicative of hepatic cholestasis, such as hepatic bile plugs or brown pigmentation of hepatocytes.展开更多
基金Supported by The Korea Science and Engineering Foundation Grant Funded by the Korean Government through the Research Center for Resistant Cells, No. R13-2003-009
文摘Scrub typhus is an acute febrile disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi （0. tsutsugamushi）. We report herein the case of a woman who presented with fever and elevated serum levels of liver enzymes and who was definitively diagnosed with scrub typhus by his- topathological examination of liver biopsy specimens, serological tests and nested polymerase chain reaction. Immunohistochemical staining using a monoclonal an- ti-O. tsutsugamushi antibody showed focally scattered positive immunoreactions in the cytoplasm of some hepatocytes. This case suggests that scrub typhus hepatitis causes mild focal inflammation due to direct liver damage without causing piecemeal necrosis or interface hepatitis. Thus, scrub typhus hepatitis differs from acute viral hepatitis secondary to liver damage due to host immune responses, which causes severe Iobular disarray with diffuse hepatocytic degeneration, necrosis and apoptosis as well as findings indicative of hepatic cholestasis, such as hepatic bile plugs or brown pigmentation of hepatocytes.
