Haverhill Fever

Haverhill fever is characterized by abrupt onset... a rubellaform to morbilliform eruption... chiefly on the extremities... and an inflammation of the joints with marked pain and tenderness.1The diagnosis is made by isolation, from blood or from joint fluid, of a highly pleomorphic filamentous or spindle-shaped aerobic or microaerophilic gram-negative organism, Haverhillia multiformis,2which requires serum for growth in artificial mediums. Recently, in the medical service of the Long Island College Hospital, a patient was observed who presented the clinical picture of Haverhill fever. Haverhillia multiformis was isolated from the blood stream on seven occasions. REPORT OF CASE A. S., a 40 year old Italian woman, was admitted to the medical service of the Long Island College Hospital on Nov. 19, 1937, complaining of pain and swelling of the joints of about five days' duration. She stated that three weeks before admission she had been bitten on