2-Year-Old Survives Rare Post COVID Infection That Kept Him On Ventilator For 2 Weeks

A 2-year-old boy in India has successfully fought a rare post-COVID infection that put him on a ventilator for more than two weeks.

The unidentified child from the nation's capital city Delhi developed a severe cough in December after recovering from a COVID-19 infection. The boy's condition soon escalated and was hospitalized with a high fever and breathing difficulties. The child suffered a cardiac arrest minutes after he arrived at the hospital, and doctors soon diagnosed him with multi-organ dysfunction caused by a rare post-COVID infection.

"Further examinations revealed that he had developed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare disorder in which his own body was killing multiple organs. As a result, the lungs, heart, brain, and kidneys had suffered considerable damage," Dr. Sayed Mustafa Hasan, who treated the child at the hospital said, The New Indian Express reported.

Although rare, MIS-C, also known as a pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS), is a serious infection triggered by a COVID-19 virus. The symptoms usually appear within two to four weeks after a COVID-19 infection and mostly affect school-age children, although in some cases, were reported among infants and young adults.

In addition to the symptoms of multiple organ failure, the boy also suffered difficulty in speech, inability to pass urine and loss of eye contact with others that doctors consider as side effects of the infection.

After the diagnosis, the toddler underwent a series of treatments, including Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) to remove all waste material from his body for around 60 hours and peritoneal dialysis to remove the infection. The doctors also employed a cytosorb dialysis filter, a treatment methodology aimed at reducing the cytokine storm in severely ill COVID patients.

The child spent around 16 days on a ventilator while a team of specialists tried to restore functions of his kidneys, heart and lungs.

"It's a very rare case and less than one percent of the kids suffer from such severe infection and leading to multiple organ dysfunction. Finally, he is rid of all infections and he can resume his normal life," Dr. Neha Bhandari, a doctor who treated the child, said, as reported by NDTV.

According to the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, the incidence of MIS-C is 12 cases per 1,00,000 population and most children recover if the condition is diagnosed early.