Case Report: Unilateral Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy Associated With COVID-19 in a 2-year-old Child

Knoflach, Katrin; Holzapfel, Eva; Roser, Timo; Rudolph, Lieselotte; Paolini, Marco; Münchhoff, Maximilian; Osterman, Andreas; Griese, Matthias; Kappler, Matthias and von Both, Ulrich (17. December 2021): Case Report: Unilateral Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy Associated With COVID-19 in a 2-year-old Child. In: Frontiers in Pediatrics, Vol. 9, 756014

Abstract

Children have been described to show neurological symptoms in acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). We present a 2-year-old boy's clinical course of unilateral acute sixth nerve palsy in the context of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Onset of the palsy in the otherwise healthy boy occurred seven days after symptoms attributed to acute infection had subsided respectively 3 weeks after onset of respiratory symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG was detected in serum as well as in cerebrospinal fluid. The patient showed a prolonged but self-limiting course with a full recovery after three and a half months. This case illustrates in a detailed chronological sequence that sixth cranial nerve involvement may occur as post-infectious, self-limiting complication of pediatric SARS-CoV-2-infection thus expanding the neurological spectrum of symptoms for children with COVID-19. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of post-infectious sixth nerve palsy related to SARS-CoV-2-infection particularly in view of recent respiratory tract infection or confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2-infection amongst the patient's close contacts.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; sixth cranial nerve palsy; pediatric; anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 2296-2360
• Language: English