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The tropics and the crime they did not commit

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Abstract

Travellers to tropical destinations who seek medical attention after returning to their home country often present with fever, frequently as a result of an imported infectious disease. For this reason, clinicians initially focus on an infectious cause when a clear relationship in time exists between travel and disease onset. We present a case of a patient, who developed fever 2 weeks after his return from Ghana and who was finally diagnosed with an auto-immune disease: arteritis of the large arteries. This case illustrates that broad differential diagnostic thinking is paramount in the assessment of returned travellers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A. Goorhuis, P. P. A. M. van Thiel, S. Middeldorp, B. L. F. van Eck & M. P. Grobusch

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  1. A. Goorhuis
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  2. P. P. A. M. van Thiel
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  3. S. Middeldorp
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  4. B. L. F. van Eck
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  5. M. P. Grobusch
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Correspondence to A. Goorhuis.

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Goorhuis, A., van Thiel, P.P.A.M., Middeldorp, S. et al. The tropics and the crime they did not commit. Infection 41, 275–277 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-012-0375-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-012-0375-x

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