14 year old COVID survivor fights multisystem inflammatory syndrome

NEWS DESK,KOLKATA: “I had no idea when my son had Covid. No one in his immediate contact did either. Also, we did not know that Covid in children could lead to such a serious condition later. But Dr. Kaustabh explained everything to us treated my son back to good health very fast,” said Brotin’s father Bireswar Dasgupta.

Bratin had developed fever from March 3, which would not come down with the administration of paracetamol. Tests for malaria, typhoid and dengue had come negative. When his platelet count, too, fell to 58,000 his parents got him admitted to Apollo on February 16.

Once admitted, other inflammatory parameters were examined in view of MIS-C and turned out to be highly positive. Echocardiography showed severe myocardial dysfunction with ejection fraction of only 28% (normally it is 60 per cent) and revealed severe systolic dysfunction, dilated Inferior vena cava (IVC is a large blood vessel responsible for transporting deoxygenated blood from the lower extremities and abdomen back to the right atrium of the heart). The child also showed acute Covid psychosis in form of delusion and hallucinations.

With Intravenous immunoglobulin and steroid the child’s condition improved and the Echo done the next day showed progress in treatment. 

Fever spikes gradually decreased with improvement in laboratory parameters and child's psychological status also got better in due course. This case highlights post Covid severe myocardial dysfunction as MIS-C with Covid psychosis. The outcome is poor if not diagnosed promptly with proper treatment support because most of the time, other common bacterial infections thought as possibility results in loss of valuable time and delay the diagnosis.

Recently similar cases reported from USA, UK with detrimental outcome.

COVID-19 is a threat to both mental and physical breakdown. It is important to stay strong both ways. Hope to overcome this atrocity soon.