The patient presented with sepsis (common presentation) and was found to have pancytopenia. The patient worked in a small manufacturing business cleaning parts using benzene containing solvents in an unventilated room. The physical examination showed pallor and petechiae. The liver, spleen, and lymph nodes were not enlarged. Examination of the peripheral blood smear showed that the red blood cells were normocytic with markedly reduced reticulocytes. The bone marrow was profoundly hypocellular with a decrease in all elements; the marrow space is composed mostly of fat cells and marrow stroma. Hematopoietic cells were morphologically normal