A Case of Pleural Effusion and Ascites Associated With Acute Hepatitis A

Abstract

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is common in developing countries, including India. It can be accompanied by extra-hepatic complications such as renal failure, arthritis, and vasculitis. Pleural effusion is a very rare complication of HAV infection, which has been reported usually in children, and has benign clinical courses. Here we report a case of pleural effusion with ascites which occurred in an adult hepatitis A patient. A 26-year-old-man presented with generalized myalgia and fever and was diagnosed as acute hepatitis A. Despite of the improvement of laboratory findings, fever and cough persisted. Pleural effusion newly appeared on the serial chest radiologic images. After the fever settled down, the pleural effusion resolved spontaneously at 2nd week of admission.