Pneumococcal sepsis after autosplenectomy in a girl with systemic lupus erythematosus

SIR, Autosplenectomy is infrequently described in systemic lupuserythematosus (SLE) [1, 2]. Asplenia is associated with highmortality due to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection [2–6].In this case report, we describe a girl who survived pneumococcalsepsis and meningitis. Our observation supports the applicationof pneumococcal vaccine in SLE patients. A 15-yr-old girl was treated with prednisolone (5 mg/48 h) andfosinopril due to SLE complicated by nephritis and arterialhypertension. After years of inactive