AUTHOR=Fang Changquan , Xie Yanjun , Mai Hui , Xu Limin 

TITLE=Acute abdominal pain as the first symptom of Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia complicated by acute pancreatitis: a case report

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1253859

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1253859

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p><italic>Chlamydia psittaci</italic> infections primarily cause damage to the lungs but may also affect the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney, and brain, resulting in a variety of extrapulmonary complications. However, reports regarding <italic>C. psittaci</italic> infection-associated pancreatitis are rare. In this report, a patient with <italic>C. psittaci</italic> pneumonia complicated by acute pancreatitis is presented.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Case description</title><p>The patient presented with acute upper abdominal pain and developed severe pyrexia and dyspnoea one day later. A chest computed tomography image revealed patchy consolidation in the left lung. The disease progressed rapidly, and the patient exhibited liver and kidney damage and type 1 respiratory failure within a short period of time. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing of alveolar lavage fluid revealed the presence of <italic>C. psittaci</italic>. The patient was administered doxycycline and moxifloxacin, after which the patient’s abdominal pain and lung infection significantly resolved.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Conclusion</title><p>This case report demonstrates that extrapulmonary <italic>C. psittaci</italic> infections due to secondary acute pancreatitis can manifest as abdominal pain, although the exact mechanisms of <italic>C. psittaci</italic> caused by acute pancreatitis remain unclear. Timely diagnoses and treatments of such infections are necessary to achieve favorable clinical outcomes.</p></sec>