Familial Histiocytosis in Offspring of Two Pregnancies after Artificial Insemination

Abstract

FAMILIAL erythrophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is a rare (but frequently fatal) disease of childhood that was described in 1952 by Farquhar and Claireaux.^{1 2 3} Its clinical features include recurrent fever, irritability, anorexia, vomiting, pallor, and hepatosplenomegaly. The patient's age at presentation is usually under two years, and most cases are diagnosed before the patients reach three months of age.⁴ A fatal outcome with progressive pancytopenia, liver dysfunction, and lymphocytic meningitis usually occurs within six months of presentation; the average survival is six weeks after diagnosis. We report the tragic occurrence of this disease in two siblings conceived through artificial insemination with sperm from . . .