ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The impact of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) on metabolic outcome in patients with inborn errors of metabolism has rarely been discussed. Herein, we report a case with an acute encephalopathic crisis at the course of COVID-19 disease as the first sign of glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA-1). CASE PRESENTATION: A 9-month-old patient was admitted with encephalopathy and acute loss of acquired motor skills during the course of COVID-19 disease. She had lethargy, hypotonia, and choreoathetoid movements. In terms of COVID-19 encephalopathy, the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay test for COVID-19 was negative in cerebral spinal fluid. Brain imaging showed frontotemporal atrophy, bilateral subcortical and periventricular white matter, basal ganglia, and thalamic involvement. Elevated glutarylcarnitine in plasma and urinary excretion of glutaric and 3-OH-glutaric acids was noted. A homozygote mutation in the glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase gene led to the diagnosis of GA-1. CONCLUSIONS: With this report, neurological damage associated with COVID-19 has been reported in GA-1 patients for the first time in literature.
Subject(s)
Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors/complications , Brain Diseases, Metabolic/complications , Brain Diseases/etiology , COVID-19/complications , Glutaryl-CoA Dehydrogenase/deficiency , Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors/diagnostic imaging , Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors/genetics , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain Diseases/complications , Brain Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Brain Diseases, Metabolic/diagnostic imaging , Brain Diseases, Metabolic/genetics , COVID-19/diagnosis , COVID-19/diagnostic imaging , COVID-19 Testing , Carnitine/analogs & derivatives , Carnitine/blood , Carnitine/urine , Female , Genetic Testing , Glutarates/blood , Glutarates/urine , Glutaryl-CoA Dehydrogenase/genetics , Humans , Infant , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Motor Skills , Movement Disorders/etiology , Muscle Hypotonia/etiologyABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the health and healthcare of individuals of all ages worldwide. There have been multiple reports and reviews documenting a milder effect and decreased morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population, but there have only been a small number of reports discussing the SARS-CoV-2 infection in the setting of an inborn error of metabolism (IEM). Here, we report two patients with underlying metabolic disorders, propionic acidemia and glutaric aciduria type 1, and discuss their clinical presentation, as well as their infectious and metabolic management. Our report demonstrates that individuals with an underlying IEM are at risk of metabolic decompensation in the setting of a COVID-19 infection. The SARS-CoV-2 virus does not appear to cause a more severe metabolic deterioration than is typical.