Doctors treating a one-year-old baby at a private hospital have found the infant has a rare post-Covid condition called Hemiconvulsion-Hemiplegia-Epilepsy (HHE) syndrome, leaving her paralysed on the right side.
While children afflicted with Covid-19 largely display mild symptoms of the condition that also results in multiple seizures, it is also possible in some cases for them to develop MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children), which causes inflammation in different organs.
One-year-old Vyshnavi (name changed) was taken to a city hospital two months ago due to persistent right-sided seizures of the arms and legs, which lasted for nearly six hours with fever. Her family members, including parents, were Covid positive and recovered well three weeks prior to the child's illness.
The baby had a mild cough and cold and was not tested for Covid.
“We quickly intubated her, put her on a mechanical ventilator and administered third line anti-epileptic drugs. She was in shock and unresponsive. A 24-hour-EEG suggested persistent seizure activity on the left side of the brain. We had to control the seizures by inducing medical coma,” said Dr Sujatha Thyagarajan, lead paediatric intensivist at Aster RV Hospital, JP Nagar.
She had fever spikes and needed continuous medicine drips to maintain blood pressure. She was found to have Covid antibodies though she did not have an active infection.
The child was treated with intravenous immunoglobulins, steroids and Anakinra, which helps in modifying the way the body fights any infection. Post the treatment, the baby showed significant improvement and was taken off the ventilator.
She could not have head control initially, besides showing severe weakness and impaired movement on the right side, indicating partial paralysis. After rehabilitation in the course of six weeks, she made significant improvement in the general condition, body posture and muscle tone. The weakness is expected to subside steadily.
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