A newborn diagnosed with COVID-19 multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MISC) and neonatal purpura fulminans, a rare combination of conditions in an infant, has been treated and the baby was clinically recovering at a private hospital here.
Chief of children’s services and director, Andhra Hospitals, Dr. P.V. Rama Rao, in a virtual press conference, said the baby was admitted to the hospital on the seventh day after birth with extensive skin lesions and a high fever.
“The skin lesions in shades of black, red and blue appeared on the waist, abdomen, buttocks and legs along with ulceration at some places, 16 hours after birth, and they got worse over the next four days. The baby was diagnosed with purpura fulminans and MIS-C,” he said.
“Though both mother and baby tested negative for COVID-19 in Rt-PCR test, their COVID IgG antibodies test turned positive indicating transplacental transmission of antibodies from mother to baby. Blood investigations showed high white blood cell count, rise in inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein and others. The baby was treated with immunoglobulins, steroids and blood thinners. Paediatric surgeons performed surgeries and removed the infected and dead skin lesions. The skin started healing, the fever came down and the baby is feeding now,” Dr. Rama Rao said. The baby would need more surgeries and continuous medication, he added.
Children and adolescents were at risk of developing MIS-C two to three weeks after acute COVID-19 illness. Its symptoms include fever for at least three days, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin lesions, conjunctivitis, lymph node enlargement and cardiac dysfunction, he said.
