Recurrent Life-threatening Pneumonitis in a 37-Year-Old Woman

A 37-year-old previously healthy and athletic woman presented to the ED in October 2018 with acute-onset high fever, dyspnea, and productive cough. Chest radiograph showed bilateral infiltrates that correlated with multifocal ground glass opacities in a thoracic CT scan (Fig 1). The patient was severely hypoxemic and required intensive care and oxygen administration via a high-flow nasal cannula. On admission, leucocyte counts were 23.3 k/μL; platelet counts were 518 k/μL; hemoglobin level was 12 g/dL; C-reactive protein was 83 mg/L, and procalcitonin was 0.7 μg/L. An auto-antibody panel that included antinuclear antibodies, extractable nuclear antigen (including anti-centromere-antibodies), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, and myositis- and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor-antibodies was negative, as was the rheumatoid factor. Immunoglobulins that included IgG1-4 and IgA and renal function were normal. Sicca symptoms like xerophthalmia and xerostomia were negated. The patient fully recovered after empiric administration of antibiotics and glucocorticoids (initially 500 mg methylprednisolone daily over 3 days with consecutive tapering).