Toddler With New Onset Diabetes and Atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome in the Setting of COVID-19

Pediatrics. 2021 Feb;147(2):e2020016774. doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-016774. Epub 2020 Oct 9.

Abstract

This is a novel case of a 16-month-old boy with a history of prematurity with intrauterine growth restriction, severe failure to thrive, microcephaly, pachygyria, agenesis of the corpus callosum, and postnatal embolic stroke, who presented with new-onset diabetes mellitus with diabetic ketoacidosis in the setting of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, with a course complicated by atypical hemolytic syndrome (aHUS). This patient demonstrated remarkable insulin resistance in the period before aHUS diagnosis, which resolved with the first dose of eculizumab therapy. There is increasing evidence that COVID-19 is associated with thrombotic disorders and that microangiopathic processes and complement-mediated inflammation may be implicated. In this case report, we describe a pediatric patient with COVID-19 and a new complement-mediated microangiopathic thrombotic disease. Because whole-exome sequencing and extensive workup returned without a clear etiology for aHUS, this is likely a COVID-19 triggered case of aHUS versus an idiopathic case that was unmasked by the infection.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Abnormalities, Multiple
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use
  • Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome / diagnosis*
  • Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome / drug therapy
  • Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome / etiology*
  • COVID-19 / complications*
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • Child, Preschool
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / complications
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / diagnosis*
  • Diabetic Ketoacidosis / complications
  • Diabetic Ketoacidosis / diagnosis*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Premature
  • Insulin Resistance
  • Male
  • Risk Factors
  • SARS-CoV-2

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • eculizumab