VASCULITIS UNVEILED: A DETAILED CASE REPORT

Abstract

Vasculitis is characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels that usually presents with fever, arthralgias, itching, purpural rashes, ulcers, weakness, and other symptoms ⁽¹⁾. It can be classified in various ways and the age of presentation will depend on the type of vasculitis. However, regardless of the type, it commonly occurs in adults older than 50 years old. The exact causative factors or agents for vasculitis are unknown but they are usually classified under autoimmune diseases and infections, which includes rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and hepatitis ⁽²⁾. In this report, we describe the case of a 50-year-old female who presented to OPD of a tertiary care hospital in Islamabad that was a diagnosed case of chronic gastroenteritis from 2 months, with complaints of fever, vomiting, diarrhea, itching, painful blisters on feet, thigh, and abdomen in addition to arthralgias in both knees. The patient was conscious and admitted to female medical ward. She was treated with systemic corticosteroids, topical corticosteroids, emollients, and anti-histamines for her skin blisters. Co-Amoxiclav was administered in IV form for chronic gastroenteritis. NSAID was given for arthralgias. She was also given Ringer Lactate in IV form to treat dehydration, loperamide for vomiting and domperidone for diarrhea. Serum ANA IgG came out as Non-Reactive. CBC indicated anemia and thrombocytopenia. ESR and CRP were raised. The diagnosis was made clinically.