A heartbreaking case out of China has stunned doctors and highlighted a rare but devastating complication of COVID-19. A young girl has died after suffering an extreme neurological reaction to the virus, with medics describing a swift and terrifying decline that left her brain dead within days.
The case, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, details how the child, whose name and exact age have not been released, initially developed a mild fever of 100.4°F along with headache, vomiting, and a rash spreading across her body. What started as symptoms that seemed relatively typical quickly took a disturbing turn.
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After being seen at a local clinic and given medication that didn’t help, she had her first seizure the following day. According to the report, this involved “frothing at the mouth,” her arms stiffening, legs jerking, and rapid blinking in one eye. Though she seemed to briefly bounce back to a “relatively good mental state,” she was taken to a hospital in Guangzhou as a precaution.
Later that same day, another seizure struck. This time, vomiting followed, and doctors tried to address what they suspected was acid buildup. But things escalated fast. By the next morning, a third seizure hit. Though medics responded quickly with diazepam, she soon slipped into a coma as her brain began to swell and her breathing started to fail.
Despite being moved to another hospital and receiving intensive care, the outlook grew bleaker. Tests showed COVID-19 in her saliva, rotavirus in her stool, and bacteria in her bloodstream, a complex and troubling mix. After nine days in the hospital, she was declared brain dead. “Despite aggressive therapy, the patient remained in profound coma without sedation,” the medical team wrote.
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While doctors couldn’t definitively confirm COVID-19 as the cause, they said it was the most likely trigger for the severe encephalopathy. Rotavirus may have played a role, but the evidence pointed more strongly towards COVID as the main factor. They also noted that without an autopsy or direct testing of the brain tissue, the exact cause would remain uncertain.
In their final warning, the doctors stressed how crucial it is for clinicians to be alert to unusual symptoms in young patients. “This case highlights the urgent need for early recognition of neurological complications in children with COVID-19,” they wrote. “Clinicians should maintain heightened vigilance for atypical presentations, including rapid neurological deterioration post-infection.”
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