Graft-versus-host disease from fetal cells is rare — but possible

Figuring out the right medical diagnosis for patients can be a tricky process. The recent case of a woman who became sick with a life-threatening disease shortly after giving birth shows how many factors had to align to offer clinicians new insights into a rare complication that had never before been documented.

A letter published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights the circumstances of the unusual case that occurred at University of Colorado Hospital. A 32-year-old woman was admitted 12 days after giving birth to twins. After two previous, uneventful pregnancies, she’d hemorrhaged during delivery this time, requiring a transfusion of packed red blood cells.

The woman came to her local emergency room with right breast tenderness and a fever of 102 degrees, and was prescribed the antibiotic dicloxacillin. She did not improve, and a week later, still with a fever, she was admitted and treated with more antibiotics.