A 44-year-old man who works on the kill floor of an abattoir in central Queensland presents with six days of high fevers, drenching night sweats, severe headache behind the eyes and muscle aches. He has a dry cough. He has never had the workplace vaccination that was offered. He has not been swimming in creeks or hunting. His temperature is 39.4 °C and pulse 64/min. There is no rash, no joint swelling and no jaundice. Results: white cell count 5.8 × 10⁹/L, platelets 118 × 10⁹/L, ALT 96 U/L (<40), creatinine 84 µmol/L. A chest radiograph shows patchy consolidation in the left lower zone.
Which one of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
Keep going — a set of ten like this one, one at a time.
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