ABSTRACT
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has made a significant impact around the world through COVID-19 and its related complications. Individuals with comorbid conditions and the elderly have been at risk of significant inflammatory complications, including the cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Children, on the other hand, have been less affected and have had less severe disease. However, reports from Europe and North America have described clusters of children and adolescents with paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Both adults and children have also exhibited a number of unusual disease manifestations. We present the case of a South African child, infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presenting with reactive urticaria and thrombocytosis, further broadening the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 in children.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 virus (SARS-CoV-2). Infections were first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and the infection has recently spread worldwide and been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The disease presents with a spectrum of respiratory manifestations that range from asymptomatic cases, to patients with mild and severe symptoms, either with or without pneumonia. Symptoms include fever, upper respiratory tract coryza, cough and acute lower respiratory tract infection. Asthmatics have, thus far, only shown slightly higher risk for hospitalisation but not for mortality. However, this may change in South Africa. Asthmatics are advised to keep their asthma under control and to continue using controller medication. It is critical for all of us, especially asthmatics, to practice ‘social distancing’, wash hands frequently and practise sneeze and cough etiquette.