The liver in boutonneuse fever.

Hepatic lesions were studied for the first time in 13 cases of boutonneuse fever (Mediterranean exanthematous fever). The glutamic-oxalacetic transaminases were raised in eight patients, the glutamic-pyruvic transaminases showed an increase in 10 patients, alkaline phosphatases in seven of the 10 patients investigated, and conjugate bilirubin showed moderate increases in three patients. Five patients were studied histologically; this study showed lesions of a granulomatous type, similar to those described in Q fever, in three patients, fatty degeneration with marked alcoholism in another patient, and a normal liver in the last patient. Two of the three patients with granulomatous lesions showed a moderate increase in alkaline phosphatases. After this report boutonneuse fever must be included among the infectious conditions that can produce granulomas within the liver.