PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ksheetij Kothari
AU  - Mallikarjun Patil
AU  - Renuka Malipatel
AU  - Harshad Devarbhavi
TI  - Lessons of the month: Massive gastrointestinal bleeding in a young woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)
AID  - 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0803
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - e100--e102
VI  - 21
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/e100.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/e100.full
SO  - Clin Med2021 Jan 01; 21
AB  - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous pathogen, belongs to the herpes virus family and can infect the gastrointestinal (GI) system. The disease is usually noted in immunocompromised patients such as solid organ transplant recipients on immunosuppressive drugs, patients with malignancy receiving chemotherapy, patients with AIDS, patients on steroids for autoimmune disorders, and is rarely seen in immunocompetent individuals. In the GI system, CMV most commonly involves the colon, followed by oesophagus, stomach and, rarely, the small intestine. The GI manifestation of CMV infection is usually anorexia, diarrhoea, and blood in stools, abdominal pain and fever. Very rarely, CMV infection may present with a massive GI bleed. We report a case of 36-year-old pregnant woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) who presented with massive GI bleeding following delivery, attributed to isolated CMV enteritis.