Disseminated donovanosis (granuloma inguinale) causing spinal cord compression: case report and review of donovanosis involving bone.

Abstract

Donovanosis is a genital ulcer disease that occasionally has extragenital manifestations. This report describes a case of disseminated donovanosis in a 54-year-old woman from northern Australia who had subsequent thoracic vertebral osteomyelitis and spinal cord compression. Malignancy and vertebral tuberculosis were the major differential diagnoses. The patient had no genital lesions at the time of diagnosis of extragenital donovanosis but had undergone a hysterectomy, thus raising the possibility of prior disease of the uterine cervix (most previous cases have been associated with primary cervical disease). Despite treatment with doxycycline, she had no significant neurological improvement. Donovanosis disseminated to bone has been reported in 18 cases in the last 55 years. Awareness of donovanosis in the differential diagnosis of osteomyelitis and prompt pelvic examinations enabling early diagnosis of occult cervical disease are the most important measures in preventing morbidity and mortality due to disseminated donovanosis.