Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in West China: a case report

BACKGROUND: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening disease characterized by an excessive systemic inflammatory response, which can be classified as primary HLH (pHLH) and secondary HLH (sHLH). Viruses are the primary pathogens causing sHLH. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by hantaviruses. Its main characteristics include fever, circulatory collapse with hypotension, hemorrhage, and acute kidney injury. The case of HFRS presented with sHLH is very rare in clinic. We reported the HFRS inducing by Hantaan virus (HTNV) presented with sHLH as the first case in Shaanxi province of west China. CASE PRESENTATION: A case of HFRS in 69-year-old Chinese woman, which had persistent fever, cytopenia, coagulopathy, ferritin significantly increased, hepatosplenomegaly and superficial lymphadenopathy. The hemophagocytosis was found in bone marrow, which was consistent with the characteristics of the HLH. The patient recovered completely after timely comprehensive treatments. CONCLUSIONS: HTNV should be considered as one of the underlying viruses resulting in hemophagocytosis, and if occurs, the early diagnosis and rapid therapeutic intervention are very important to the prognosis of sHLH.