[Visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) in a 3-year-old German infant (author’s transl)]

The article reports on a case of visceral leishmaniasis in a 3-year-old child of German residents in Rome who had passed two vacations on the isle of Ischia. Initial signs were intermittent temperatures, marked anorexia, hepatosplenomegaly and pancytopenia, with spontaneous recovery after three weeks. At that time, leishmania serology was already positive, whereas no leishmania were found in several bone marrow preparations despite a most thorough search. During the following eight weeks, the patient had chickenpox and mumps. During the mumps, relapse of the visceral leishmaniasis occurred, associated with a dramatic increase of the hepatosplenomegaly and recurring pancytopenia. It was only now that we could discover multiple leishmania infection of the bone marrow. Subsequent therapy with sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) was effective without any complications, and eventually cured the patient.