“Age merely shows what children we remain,” observes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Faust, his celebrated 2-part play. The quote accurately captures the case of an adult who presented with a classic pediatric illness, the diagnosis of which was not initially considered.
A previously healthy 32-year-old man with abdominal pain and a rash made his third visit in 2 weeks to an emergency department. Two weeks earlier, he noticed a rash that he described as small, red, pointed, elevations on his hands, elbows, and ankles. He also said that he felt queasy. Within 24 hours, he developed vomiting, watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and diffuse arthralgia. He went to an urgent care center, was diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis, and received antiemetics and pain medications. Over the next 2 days, the abdominal pain worsened, and he went to an emergency department, where he was prescribed ciprofloxacin and diphenoxylate/atropine tablets. Despite this treatment, the diarrhea subsequently became bloody.
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— Gajarah B.B. Peterson, MD, Lisa G. Criscione-Schreiber, MD
This article originally appeared in the June 2012 issue of the The American Journal of Medicine.
