A 33 year old woman was admitted to the gynaecology ward in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital with a four day history of abdominal pain and jaundice. She was 16 weeks pregnant in her third pregnancy. Both her previous pregnancies resulted in live, healthy children. Her health passport showed that she had been diagnosed HIV positive in 2008 during antenatal testing, although neither the patient n...

Ophidian accidents are not rare in Brazil. Its frequency is of about 30,000 cases/year in Brazil, although ranging between different regions. The gender Bothrops, which includes snakes popularly known as 'jararaca', is by far the most frequently involved, followed by the gender Crotalus, mainly represented by the rattlesnake. Other genders as Micrurus and Lachesis have lower epidemiological rel...

This paper reviews eight published studies of children who required critical care following a stem cell transplant. Approximately 14% of children required mechanical ventilation following stem cell transplant. Sixteen percent of these children survived. Eleven percent of children who had primary lung injury secondary to either infectious or non-infectious causes survived. Patients with respirat...

We report a case of a 15-year-old boy who developed multiple organ failure secondary to a sport injury leading to infection with a Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) secreting Community-Acquired Methicillin Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus (CA MSSA). Aggressive antibiotic therapy eventually led to recovery.

Tumor lysis syndrome is a serious and dangerous complication usually associated with antiblastic treatment in some malignancies characterized by high cell turn-over. Mild or severe electrolyte abnormalities including high serum levels of uric acid, potassium, phosphorus, creatinine, bun and reduction of calcium can be responsible for multi-organ failure, involving mostly kidneys, heart and cent...

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is characterized by fever, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and altered consciousness, which may also involve multi-organ failure. Initially SFTS mortality was as high as 30%, when diagnosis remained unclear. We present a case of a 53-year- old man with SFTS presenting with acute hepatic failure. On admission, he presented with confusion, elevated...