CRP and Thrombocytopenia: As the automated blood count and the CRP rapid test results are conducted in-house at DIDTM, these results were available within the first half hour of presentation, and revealed a marked thrombocytopenia of 79/nl (normal range 140–360/nl) and an elevated CRP (later quantified at 10.6 mg/dl; normal range < 0,5 mg/dl).