Was It the Zebu?

An exotic vacation was followed by weeks of hospitalization. A 71-year-old Italian man was admitted to the infectious diseases ward after 24 hours of bloody diarrhea. This had been preceded by 3 days of severe watery diarrhea, vomiting, and cramping abdominal pain. The patient's symptoms began on the day he arrived in Italy from a 1-week vacation in Madagascar. While there, he drank the tap water and ate undercooked zebu meat; zebu also are known as humped or Brahmin cattle. He had underlying diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and a past history of laryngeal carcinoma. He also reported a daily alcohol intake of 120 grams.

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-- Spinello Antinori, MD, Laura Galimberti, MD, Mario Corbellino, MD

This article originally appeared in the August 2012 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.