RESUMO
COVID-19 vaccines are generally proven safe in all population and are highly recommended. However, rare adverse events have been reported. We hereby present a case of an 18-year-old man who presented to emergency department with fever, meningitis like symptoms, shortness of breath, chest pain, skin rash, and extreme fatigue. He had cardiac manifestations including hypotension, elevated troponin, and reduced ejection fraction. High inflammatory markers were also noted. He was initially worked up for and treated as a possible infectious etiology, but the microbiological studies were negative and there was no response to treatment. Since he had recently received booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination three weeks prior to onset of symptoms, a possibility of Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was made. His presentation fulfilled all the diagnostic criteria. The possibility for MIS-C being related to vaccination was proposed after relevant serological tests showed that the antibodies, he had were due to COVID-19 vaccine, not to a prior infection. After he received appropriate immunomodulatory treatment (IVIG and methylprednisolone) as per the guideline, he showed marked clinical improvement. Our case report highlights the need to consider MIS-C as a potential differential in young patients who present with unexplained multisystem illness with increased inflammatory markers and negative microbiologic work-up. MIS-C can be secondary to COVID-19 vaccination as well as to prior COVID-19 infection.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly around the world and was declared as the second pandemic of the 21st century. The first case was detected in Qatar on February 29, 2020. In order to protect patients and staff in Heart Hospital, the only tertiary cardiac center in Qatar, new measures were implemented to reduce the spread of infection in our hospital. METHODOLOGY: A 13-bed high dependency isolation unit was allocated to receive cardiac patients with appreciate infection control measures. Another isolation unit was also established in coronary care unit for critical patients. All patients admitted to Heart Hospital were tested for COVID-19 on admission. Patients were transferred out of isolation, if result was negative. Patients with positive results were either transferred to a COVID facility before or after planned cardiac procedure depending on their cardiovascular disease risk. RESULTS: Six hundred and seven patients were admitted to both the isolation units, most of them were men (89%). Forty-four percent were diagnosed with ST elevation myocardial infarction, 22% were non-STEMI or unstable angina, 17% were decompensated heart failure, 7% were elective cases for coronary angiography or electrophysiology procedures, 8% for other diagnosis, and 1% for both cardiac arrest and post cardiac surgery. 85.2% of the patients admitted to isolation units were tested negative and transferred to normal wards to complete their treatment. Eighty percent of the patients tested positive or reactive for COVID-19 had epidemiological risk, 8.4% had suggestive symptoms, and 11.6% had abnormal chest X-ray. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the importance of the isolation unit with infection control measures in controlling the transmission of COVID-19 in a hospital setting such as the Heart Hospital. Epidemiological risk factors including recent travel, close contact with suspected or confirmed cases within 14 days or less, living in shared accommodation or living in lockdown area were the main risk factors for spreading COVID-19 infection which can be managed by minimizing social activities.
