Early sofosbuvir-ledipasvir treatment for acute HCV infection induced severe immune thrombocytopenia – a case report

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a recognised cause of secondary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). While its incidence has been largely described during chronic HCV infection, only one case of ITP secondary to acute HCV infection has been reported at this time. CASE PRESENTATION: We report herein the case of severe ITP secondary to an acute HCV genotype 1a reinfection in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative man having sex with men who had been cured several years before of a previous acute genotype 4d HCV infection. After an unsuccessful standard therapy with two courses of intravenous immunoglobulin (at 1 g/kg daily for 2 days) associated with methylprednisolone 1 mg/kg daily, antiviral treatment with sofosbuvir-ledipasvir rapidly achieved virological response and normalised the platelet count. CONCLUSIONS: As a direct effect of HCV on megakaryocytes could be the predominant cause of ITP during acute infection, early antiviral treatment may be beneficial in this case. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-018-3597-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.