Pulmonary Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Mimicking a Pneumonia in a Postpartum Female

Abstract

The pulmonary manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus can range in severity from mild to life threatening and can be particularly marked in women who are recently postpartum. We present below a seventeen-year-old female patient, one month postpartum, who had findings consistent with an acute infectious pneumonia whom upon further query and passage of time was diagnosed with severe pneumonitis due to systemic lupus erythematosus.