A Ticking Time Bomb: A Case Report of Neutropenic Fever Secondary to Tick-Borne Illness

The advent of immunomodulatory therapies and their ever-expanding number of treatment indications necessitates the understanding of their associated complications. Neutropenic fever serves as an example of these complications often encountered in clinical practice. Although neutropenic fever can result from virtually any pathogen, episodes of the syndrome secondary to tick-borne illness remain relatively undocumented in the scientific literature. In the case presented, a 77-year-old female with a pertinent past medical history of smoldering IgG multiple myeloma on active immunosuppressive therapy presented with a first-time episode of neutropenic fever likely secondary to tick-borne illness. Through this report, attention is drawn to an additional source pathogen for neutropenic fever and its management, thus expanding upon clinician understanding of this all-too-common complication of immunosuppression.