8-yr-old COVID-19 patient with features of Kawasaki recovers in Chennai

An eight-year-old COVID-19 positive patient in Chennai, who had features of Kawasaki illness and toxic shock syndrome, recovered and was discharged from hospital after two weeks.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): In possibly the first such case in India, an eight-year-old COVID-19 patient, who also had overlapping features of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) and Kawasaki disease (KD), recovered in Chennai.

The boy had high fever earlier, but had tested negative for COVID-19 in the hospital he was earlier admitted to.

The eight-year-old was then admitted to the Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital (KKCTH) in Chennai, and was being treated in the ICU. The child had overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease, according to a pre-print paper published in the journal of Indian Paediatrics.

"He had red eyes, breathing difficulty, rashes, red lips and tongue with low blood pressure. He was admitted in our PICU in a negative pressure room and was administered high end antibiotics," KKCTH, where the boy was later shifted, said in a release.

The boy subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and was being administered high frequency nasal cannula ventilation and the required IV fluids.

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As his blood reports showed high inflmmatory markers, the boy was given intravenous immunoglobin in addition to antibiotics, but he continued to have high fever.

The doctors then gave him Tocilizumab, which is used to treat rheumatological fever, following which the boy recovered and was discharged.

Meanwhile, his parents and younger sibling are healthy and are negative, the hospital said.

Cases of COVID-19 in children are being reported in Europe and USA with what is now called Hyper inflammatory syndrome mimicking Kawasaki disease and Toxic shock syndrome, the hospital added.

Kawasaki disease is an illness which causes inflammation in blood vessels throughout the body. Children below the age of five are the most vulnerable to the disease.

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