A 14-year-old boy in the United States has been hospitalised with psychosis thought to stem from his Covid infection, his doctors say.
The California teenager is suffering from psychiatric problems after catching the virus at an indoor birthday party, local reports say.
Daniel Salinas developed serious problems following his diagnosis, his family and medical team told CBS.
Experts around the world have been monitoring the phenomenon, as doctors warn mood disorders may be linked to Long Covid.
Daniel's parents told US reporters the youngster was still recovering from the aftermath of his infection after 15 members of his Orange County family came down with the virus at once.
The teen boy's mum, Wilma Singh, said she began to notice his behaviour change shortly after he began his recovery from his Covid infection.
He came down with a migraine headache on August 1, Mrs Singh said.
She added: “I felt like he had that severe migraine, slept and woke up a different person, someone who is more agitated, angry, anxious... that’s the total opposite of my son.”
The day after the migraine, Daniel’s younger brother called her panicking, claiming his sibling was "acting crazy" and talking to himself.
Daniel was rushed to hospital, then transferred to Children’s Hospital of Orange County where doctors ran tests in an attempt to understand his sudden, dramatic change in behaviour.
Emergency room doctor Dr Michael Daignault said Daniel's case was unusual, as while he had seen Covid psychosis before, it was usually in adults who were suffering with Long Covid.
Dr Daignault told CBS that health professionals were learning from Covid every day - but that they were aware psychosis was possible in children.
Daniel began suffering from psychosis around a month after he contracted the coronavirus.
“I think that their brains are just more susceptible to inflammation in the central nervous system, which is leading to these cases of psychosis in kids,” Dr Daignault explained.
Mrs Singh said she was sharing her son's story to warn other parents of the potentially serious consequences of Covid infections for young sufferers.
A study published in respected UK medical journal the Lancet Psychiatry journal last year found cases of what was thought to be Covid-induced psychosis in Britain too.
Cases of psychosis caused by viral illness had been documented since the deadly 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic ripped around the world.
The study of 153 patients treated in UK hospitals during the Covid first wave found a range of neurological and psychiatric complications potentially linked to the virus.
The research carried out by the CoroNerve Studies Group, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and published in the Lancet last June, revealed stroke was the most commonly reported neurological complication in hospitalised Covid patients.
However many younger patients hospitalised with the virus last April developed altered mental states such as psychosis or catatonia, the researchers found.
A total of 39 patients the researchers assessed experienced an altered mental state after catching the virus, and half of those cases were aged under 60.
Their diagnoses included clinical syndromes ranging from brain inflammation (encephalitis), and psychological conditions, including psychosis.
Dr Tom Pollak from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, said at the time of the study's publication that researchers were still studying whether the problems were the direct effects of the virus on the brain, of general inflammation, or a consequence of an overactive immune response.
Researchers were also considering the mental health effects of anxiety and paranoia during the pandemic, as many people suffered from fear, isolation and loss, he added.
