[Infection-associated hemophagocytic syndrome with a lethal outcome].

A 53-year-old man fell ill with myalgia, an haemorrhagic diathesis, fever, renal failure and circulatory shock. Anaemia, thrombocytopenia and lymphadenopathy quickly developed, and he died after 13 days of bronchopneumonia in treatment-resistant cardiocirculatory failure. The underlying cause of the illness, in the two weeks during which he received intensive treatment with prolonged mechanical ventilation, haemodialysis, administration of clotting factors and blood derivatives as well as high doses of cortisone and antibiotics, remained uncertain.