Case report: Visceral leishmaniasis with Salmonella Paratyphi and Brucella melitensis coinfection as a cause of persistent fever in a Patient from Sudan

Abstract

We describe the case of a 12-year-old boy from Sudan who presented with fever of 1-week duration, headache, cough, and vomiting. A set of diagnostic tests led to the diagnosis of three infectious diseases: visceral leishmaniasis (probable diagnosis based on positive direct agglutination test), enteric fever (blood culture grown with Salmonella Paratyphi), and brucellosis (blood culture grown with Brucella melitensis). The patient received specific treatment of the three infections and recovered. This case illustrates the occurrence and possible implications of coinfections in patients with persistent fever, including conditions that are hard to diagnose in field settings, such as brucellosis and enteric fever.