Case history
Case history
A 35-year-old woman who is a bird fancier presents with a 10-day history of low-grade fever and malaise, and a 2-day history of non-productive cough. On physical examination, she appears to be somewhat ill but without respiratory distress. Her temperature is 38.2°C (100.8°F) and she has a respiratory rate of 18 breaths per minute. There is pharyngeal erythema and diffuse rales on chest examination. There is also mild hepatomegaly.
Other presentations
C psittaci causes community-acquired, atypical pneumonia that can be asymptomatic or abrupt in onset. It can range from a brief, self-limiting, influenza-like illness to the less common fulminant disease with multi-organ failure. The clinical presentation can be confused with many other diseases of infectious or non-infectious origin, including hepatitis, endocarditis, septicaemia, fever of unknown origin, myocardial infarction, and tonsillitis.[1]C psittaci has also been associated with acute and chronic follicular conjunctivitis.[3][4]
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