Acute painful crisis in a female Nigerian patient with sickle cell disease.

We report a 38-year-old Nigerian woman with sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease had been diagnosed when she experienced her first sickle cell crisis episode at age 8 years. Thereafter, she had infrequent minor episodes. She visited a hospital presenting with fever, anemia, jaundice, and systemic pain, and was then transferred to our hospital. Together with rehydration and red blood cell transfusion, analgesics and antibiotics were prescribed, and produced gradual improvement of all symptoms and signs. The patient was discharged on day 9 of hospitalization. Sickle cell crisis is an acute painful episode caused by occlusion of arterioles. The degree of pain and accompanying symptoms, as well as the frequencies of crises, are variable. Moreover, one third of individuals with sickle cell disease never experience a crisis. As our society becomes increasingly globalized, the probabilities of encountering sickle cell disease patients will be higher.