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Purpura hemorrhagica may be prevented by proper management during an outbreak of strangles. This includes isolation of infected horses, disinfection of fomites, and good hygiene by caretakers. Affected horses should be isolated at least one month following infection. Exposed horses should have their temperature taken daily and should be quarantined if it becomes elevated. Prophylactic antimicrobial treatment is not recommended.
Vaccination can reduce the incidence and severity of the disease. However, horses with high SeM antibody titers are more likely to develop purpura hemorrhagica following vaccination and so these horses should not be vaccinated. Titers may be measured by ELISA.
Prognosis is good with early, aggressive treatment (92% survival in one study).
Purpura fulminans is rare and most commonly occurs in babies and small children but can also be a rare manifestation in adults when it is associated with severe infections. For example, Meningococcal septicaemia is complicated by purpura fulminans in 10–20% of cases among children. Purpura fulminans associated with congenital (inherited) protein C deficiency occurs in 1:500,000–1,000,000 live births.
While the prognosis of cryofibrinoginemic disease varies greatly depending on its severity as well as the severity of its associated disorders, satisfactory clinical outcomes are reported in 50-80% of patients with primary or secondary disease treated with corticosteroid and/or immunosuppressive regimens. However, relapses occur within the first 6 months after stopping or decreasing therapy in 40-76% of cases. Sepsis resulting from infection of necrotic tissue is the most common threat to life in primary disease whereas the associated disorder is a critical determinant of prognosis in secondary disease.
HSP occurs more often in children than in adults, and usually follows an upper respiratory tract infection. Half of affected patients are below the age of six, and 90% are under ten. It occurs about twice as often in boys as in girls. The incidence of HSP in children is about 20 per 100,000 children per year, making it the most common vasculitis in children.
Cases of HSP may occur anytime throughout the year, but some studies have found that fewer cases occur during the summer months.
Purpura are a common and nonspecific medical sign; however, the underlying mechanism commonly involves one of:
- Platelet disorders (thrombocytopenic purpura)
- Primary thrombocytopenic purpura
- Secondary thrombocytopenic purpura
- Post-transfusion purpura
- Vascular disorders (nonthrombocytopenic purpura)
- Microvascular injury, as seen in senile (old age) purpura, when blood vessels are more easily damaged
- Hypertensive states
- Deficient vascular support
- Vasculitis, as in the case of Henoch–Schönlein purpura
- Coagulation disorders
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)
- Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) - defect in collagen synthesis due to lack of hydroxylation of procollagen results in weakened capillary walls and cells
- Meningococcemia
- Cocaine use with concomitant use of the one-time chemotherapy drug and now veterinary deworming agent levamisole can cause purpura of the ears, face, trunk, or extremities, sometimes needing reconstructive surgery. Levamisole is purportedly a common cutting agent.
- Decomposition of blood vessels including purpura is a symptom of acute radiation poisoning in excess of 2 Grays of radiation exposure. This is an uncommon cause in general, but is commonly seen in victims of nuclear disaster.
Cases of psychogenic purpura are also described in the medical literature, some claimed to be due to "autoerythrocyte sensitization". Other studies suggest the local (cutaneous) activity of tissue plasminogen activator can be increased in psychogenic purpura, leading to substantial amounts of localized plasmin activity, rapid degradation of fibrin clots, and resultant bleeding. Petechial rash is also characteristic of a rickettsial infection.
A horse with strangles will typically develop abscesses in the lymph nodes of the head and neck causing coughing fits and difficulty swallowing. Clinical signs include fever up to 106 °F and yellow coloured nasal discharge from both the nose and eyes.
Abscesses may form in other areas of the body, such as the abdomen, lungs and brain. This is considered a chronic form of strangles called "bastard strangles" and can have serious implications if the abscesses rupture. Horses develop this form of strangles when their immune systems are compromised or if the bacteria rapidly invades the body.
Strangles has a 8.1% mortality rate. Mortality is lower in cases without complications than it is in cases of bastard strangles. The disease is very contagious and morbidity is high. Precautions to limit the spread of the illness are necessary and those affected are normally isolated. An isolation period of 4–6 weeks is usually necessary to ensure that the disease is not still incubating before ending the quarantine.
Possible complications include the horse becoming a chronic carrier of the disease, asphyxia due to enlarged lymph nodes compressing the larynx or windpipe, bastard strangles (spreading to other areas of the body), pneumonia, guttural pouch filled with pus, abscesses, purpura haemorrhagica, and heart disease. The average length for the course of this disease is 23 days.
Levamisole has become a common additive to illicit cocaine. It is thought to intensify the “high” by releasing dopamine in the brain, it also acts as a bulking agent and, finally is a difficult adulterant to recognize. Potential risks of levamisole-laced cocaine include neutropenia, agranulocytosis, arthralgias, retiform purpura, skin necrosis, and fever. The skin necrosis associated with levamisole toxicity ranges from leukocytoclastic vasculitis to occlusive vasculopathy. Several cases of severe agranulocytosis associated with cocaine use have been reported since 2006. With the recently recognized dermal disease, the face and ears are commonly affected, especially the bilateral helices and cheeks. However, there have also been case reports of involvement of the abdomen, chest, lower buttocks and legs.
Due to the rarity of Purpura fulminans and its occurrence in vulnerable patient groups like children research on the condition is very limited and evidence based knowledge is scarce. Currently, there is only one Purpura fulminans related clinical research project, http://www.sapfire-registry.org/, which is registered with clinicaltrials.gov.
Overall prognosis is good in most patients, with one study showing recovery occurring in 94% and 89% of children and adults, respectively (some having needed treatment). In children under ten, the condition recurs in about a third of all cases and usually within the first four months after the initial attack. Recurrence is more common in older children and adults.
Acute bacterial and mycobacterium infections are sometimes associated with cryofibriongenemia. In these cases, cryofibrinogenemia is usually transient and rapidly resolves after appropriate anti-bacterial treatment. In HIV/AIDS virus, Epstein–Barr virus, Cytomegalovirus, varicella zoster virus, herpes simplex virus, and hepatitis virus infections any rise in circulating cryofibrinogen is more sustained and potentially symptomatic. For example one large study of the most thoroughly study example of viral infection-associated cryofibrinogenmia, Hepatitis C infection, found that cryofibrinogenemia occurred in 37% of cases, was associated with concurrent cryoglobulinemia in 89% of cases, and led to significantly increased vascular disruption. Antiviral therapy resulted in complete resolution of the cryofibrinogenemia in only ~50% of these cases.
Purpura is a condition of red or purple discolored spots on the skin that do not blanch on applying pressure. The spots are caused by bleeding underneath the skin usually secondary to vasculitis or dietary deficiency of vitamin C (scurvy). They measure 0.3–1 cm (3–10 mm), whereas petechiae measure less than 3 mm, and ecchymoses greater than 1 cm.
Purpura is common with typhus and can be present with meningitis caused by meningococci or septicaemia. In particular, meningococcus ("Neisseria meningitidis"), a Gram-negative diplococcus organism, releases endotoxin when it lyses. Endotoxin activates the Hageman factor (clotting factor XII), which causes disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The DIC is what appears as a rash on the affected individual.
Levamisole Induced Necrosis Syndrome (LINES) is a complication of adulterated cocaine recognized in 2011, caused by the use of levamisole as a cutting agent for cocaine.
Treat the underlying disease . Eg for wegner's treatment is steroids and cyclophosphamide.
Thrombocytopenia affects a few percent of newborns, and its prevalence in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) is high. Normally, it is mild and resolves without consequences. Most cases affect preterm birth infants and result from placental insufficiency and/or fetal hypoxia. Other causes, such as alloimmunity, genetics, autoimmunity, and infection, are less frequent.
Thrombocytopenia that starts after the first 72 hours since birth is often the result of underlying sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). In the case of infection, PCR tests may be useful for rapid pathogen identification and detection of antibiotic resistance genes. Possible pathogens include viruses (e.g. Cytomegalovirus (CMV), rubella virus, HIV), bacteria (e.g. "Staphylococcus sp.", "Enterococcus sp.", "Streptococcus agalactiae" (GBS), "Listeria monocytogenes", "Escherichia coli", "Haemophilus influenzae", "Klebsiella pneumoniae", "Pseudomonas aeruginosa", "Yersinia enterocolitica"), fungi (e.g. "Candida sp."), and "Toxoplasma gondii". The severity of thrombocytopenia may be correlated with pathogen type; some research indicates that the most severe cases are related to fungal or gram-negative bacterial infection. The pathogen may be transmitted during or before birth, by breast feeding, or during transfusion. Interleukin-11 is being investigated as a drug for managing thrombocytopenia, especially in cases of sepsis or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Anti-platelet autoantibodies in a pregnant woman with ITP will attack the patient's own platelets and will also cross the placenta and react against fetal platelets. Therefore, ITP is a significant cause of fetal and neonatal immune thrombocytopenia. Approximately 10% of newborns affected by ITP will have platelet counts <50,000/uL and 1% to 2% will have a risk of intracerebral hemorrhage comparable to infants with neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT).
No lab test can reliably predict if neonatal thrombocytopenia will occur. The risk of neonatal thrombocytopenia is increased with:
- Mothers with a history of splenectomy for ITP
- Mothers who had a previous infant affected with ITP
- Gestational (maternal) platelet count less than 100,000/uL
It is recommended that pregnant women with thrombocytopenia or a previous diagnosis of ITP should be tested for serum antiplatelet antibodies. A woman with symptomatic thrombocytopenia and an identifiable antiplatelet antibody should be started on therapy for their ITP which may include steroids or IVIG. Fetal blood analysis to determine the platelet count is not generally performed as ITP-induced thrombocytopenia in the fetus is generally less severe than NAIT. Platelet transfusions may be performed in newborns, depending on the degree of thrombocytopenia. It is recommended that neonates be followed with serial platelet counts for the first few days after birth.,
Male gender, proteinuria (especially > 2 g/day), hypertension, smoking, hyperlipidemia, older age, familial disease and elevated creatinine concentrations are markers of a poor outcome. Frank hematuria has shown discordant results with most studies showing a better prognosis, perhaps related to the early diagnosis, except for one group which reported a poorer prognosis. Proteinuria and hypertension are the most powerful prognostic factors in this group.
There are certain other features on kidney biopsy such as interstitial scarring which are associated with a poor prognosis. ACE gene polymorphism has been recently shown to have an impact with the DD genotype associated more commonly with progression to kidney failure.
Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (also known as "Acute hemorrhagic edema of childhood", "Finkelstein's disease", "Infantile postinfectious iris-like purpura and edema", "Medallion-like purpura", "Purpura en cocarde avec oedema" and "Seidlmayer syndrome") is a skin condition that affects children under the age of two with a recent history of upper respiratory illness, a course of antibiotics, or both. The disease was first described in 1938 by Finkelstein and later by Seidlmayer as “Seidlmayer cockade purpura”.
Angina bullosa haemorrhagica (ABH) is a condition of the mucous membranes characterized by the sudden appearance of one or more blood blisters within the oral cavity.
The lesions, which may be caused by mild trauma to the mouth tissues such as hot foods, typically rupture quickly and heal without scarring or further discomfort. The condition is not serious except in rare cases where a large bulla that does not rupture spontaneously may cause airway obstruction.
The blisters usually affect the palate or oropharynx and are often long lived to the extent that patients burst them for symptomatic relief.
The mortality rate is around 95% for untreated cases, but the prognosis is reasonably favorable (80–90% survival) for patients with idiopathic TTP diagnosed and treated early with plasmapheresis.
Nonthrombocytopenic purpura is a type of purpura (red or purple skin discoloration) not associated with thrombocytopenia.
Examples/causes include:
- Henoch–Schönlein purpura.
- Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia
- Congenital cytomegalovirus
- Meningococcemia
Secondary TTP is diagnosed when the patient's history mentions one of the known features associated with TTP. It comprises about 40% of all cases of TTP. Predisposing factors are:
- Cancer
- Bone marrow transplantation
- Pregnancy
- Medication use:
- Antiviral drugs (acyclovir)
- Certain chemotherapy medications such as gemcitabine and mitomycin C
- Quinine
- Oxymorphone
- Quetiapine
- Bevacizumab
- Sunitinib
- Platelet aggregation inhibitors (ticlopidine, clopidogrel, and prasugrel)
- Immunosuppressants (ciclosporin, mitomycin, tacrolimus/FK506, interferon-α)
- Hormone altering drugs (estrogens, contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy)
- HIV-1 infection
The mechanism of secondary TTP is poorly understood, as ADAMTS13 activity is generally not as depressed as in idiopathic TTP, and inhibitors cannot be detected. Probable etiology may involve, at least in some cases, endothelial damage, although the formation of thrombi resulting in vessel occlusion may not be essential in the pathogenesis of secondary TTP. These factors may also be considered a form of secondary aHUS; patients presenting with these features are, therefore, potential candidates for anticomplement therapy.
Gianotti–Crosti syndrome ( ), also known as infantile papular acrodermatitis, papular acrodermatitis of childhood, and papulovesicular acrolocated syndrome, is a reaction of the skin to a viral infection. Hepatitis B virus and Epstein–Barr virus are the most frequently reported pathogens. Other incriminated viruses are hepatitis A virus, hepatitis C virus, cytomegalovirus, coxsackievirus, adenovirus, enterovirus, rotavirus, rubella virus, HIV, and parainfluenza virus.
It is named for Ferdinando Gianotti and Agostino Crosti.
The condition is diagnosed on the basis of exclusion of other conditions and the typical presentation, particularly the constant presence of blood as the blister fluid. Angina bullosa haemorrhagica does not cause desquamative gingivitis.