Successful treatment of a Streptococcus pneumoniae- associated haemolytic uraemic syndrome by eculizumab

Guillaume Jeantet; Vincent Pernin; Vincent Brunot; Arnaud Roccabianca; Anouk Macombe; Ilan Szwarc; Kada Klouche; Chantal Loirat; Georges Mourad; Véronique Frémeaux-Bacchi; Moglie Le Quintrec

doi:10.1093/ckj/sfy019

Successful treatment of a Streptococcus pneumoniae- associated haemolytic uraemic syndrome by eculizumab

Clin Kidney J. 2019 Feb;12(1):106-109. doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfy019. Epub 2018 Mar 20.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
² Critical Care Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
³ Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Hôpital Universitaire Robert Debré, Paris, France.
⁴ Laboratory of Immunology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

Abstract

Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) is a rare complication of invasive infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP-HUS), especially in adults. Here we report an unusual case of a 53-year-old man presenting SP-HUS with severe multivisceral involvement. After failure of supportive care and plasma exchanges, eculizumab (anti-C5 antibody) resulted in a favourable outcome.

Keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae; complement; eculizumab; haemolytic uraemic syndrome; thrombotic microangiopathy.