Rubella Associated with Hemophagocytic Review of the Literature

A 22-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of fever, skin rash and epistaxis. Physical examination revealed fever (39.5°C), generalized purpura, lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly. Blood tests showed pancytopenia. Bone marrow aspiration hemophagocytosis with no evidence of malignant cells. Anti rubella IgM antibody were positi the IgG titers increased from 16 to 50 UI/mL in 3 days. Therefore, he was diagnosed to have rubella-associated hemophagocytic syndrome. We sixth case of rubella-associated hemophagocytic syndrome in the literature by search in Pub Med till March 2012. Introduction. Haemophagocytic syndrome (HS) is caused by a dysregulation in natural killer T function, resulting in activation and proliferation of lymphocytes or histiocytes with uncontrolled haemophagocytosis and cytokine overproduction. syndrome is characterised by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenias, liver dysfunction, and hyperferritinaemia. HS can be either primary, with a genetic etiology, or secondary associated with malignancies, autoimmune diseases, or infections. Rubella or German measles is a viral infection typically characterized by rash, fever, and