A Case of Acute Hemolytic Anemia Due to Clostridium perfrigens A Septicemia

Abstract

This is a case report of a 27 year old woman who had an acute hemolytic anemia accompanied by severe hemoglobinuria resulting in acute renal failure, probably due to Clostridium perfrigens A septicemia following artificial abortion at 13 weeks' gestation. The septicemia and hemolysis were succesfully treated by cephalocin and corticosteroid, but peritoneal dialysis of 12 days' duration was required for recovery from acute renal failure.
As hematological findings, in addition to severe anemia, leucocytosis accompanied by “the shift to the left” of neutrophils, reticulocytosis, extreme enhancement of osmotic fragillity of red cells, peripheral blood smear showed remarkable spherocytosis as outstanding finding which disappeared when the patient recovered.