A woman was transferred to this hospital because of seizures and a lesion in the brain. The patient had a history of systemic lupus erythematosus, for which she had received corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive medications. Despite negative biopsy specimens and cultures, broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, and escalating doses of corticosteroids, fever persisted, neurologic function worsened, and the patient died on the 54th hospital day. An autopsy was performed.
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Furie et al. (2006) studied this question.
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