Sudden Illness in a Highly Active 80-Year-Old Woman

Editor's Note:
The Case Challenge series includes difficult-to-diagnose conditions, some of which are not frequently encountered by most clinicians but are nonetheless important to accurately recognize. Test your diagnostic and treatment skills using the following patient scenario and corresponding questions. If you have a case that you would like to suggest for a future Case Challenge, please contact us.

Background

An 80-year-old woman presents to the emergency department with symptoms of malaise, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and watery diarrhea. She had been in her usual state of health until the symptoms started about 2 to 3 days ago. The patient's daughter reports that the patient is highly active, with a full-time job as a realtor. She lives alone on a 3-acre farm located in southern Illinois, and does the gardening by herself. The diarrhea is watery without any blood in the stool. She also reported that the patient found a tick on her body about 3 to 4 weeks ago (Figure 1).

(Enlarge Image)

Fig. 1

The patient has a history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and has been receiving oral medications for 15 years. She also has had ulcerative colitis for 30 years and has been controlled with sulfasalazine. The patient is a nonsmoker and does not consume alcohol or drugs.

Medscape © 2019 WebMD, LLC

Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.

Cite this: Zafar Jamkhana, Nirav Patel. Sudden Illness in a Highly Active 80-Year-Old Woman - Medscape - Feb 12, 2019.