Adolescent and Young Adult ME/CFS After Confirmed or Probable COVID-19

Fatigue is a common acute symptom following SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). The presence of persistent fatigue and impaired daily physical and cognitive function has led to speculation that like SARS-CoV-1 infection, COVID-19 will be followed by myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (M...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Frontiers in medicine Vol. 8; p. 668944
Main Authors:	Petracek, Lindsay S, Suskauer, Stacy J, Vickers, Rebecca F, Patel, Neel R, Violand, Richard L, Swope, Renee L, Rowe, Peter C
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 29-04-2021
Subjects:	chronic fatigue syndrome COVID-19 dysautonomia Hoffman sign Medicine myalgic encephalomyelitis postural tachycardia syndrome COVID-19 neurodynamics mast cell activation postural tachycardia syndrome dysautonomia chronic fatigue syndrome Hoffman sign myalgic encephalomyelitis
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Fatigue is a common acute symptom following SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). The presence of persistent fatigue and impaired daily physical and cognitive function has led to speculation that like SARS-CoV-1 infection, COVID-19 will be followed by myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). We describe three adolescent and young adult patients who had confirmed or probable COVID-19 infections early on during the pandemic and were referred for evaluation to the Chronic Fatigue Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. All patients reported orthostatic intolerance symptoms within the first 2 weeks of illness, and 10-min passive standing tests were consistent with postural tachycardia syndrome. After 6 months of illness, all three patients met criteria for ME/CFS. Clinical features of interest included strong histories of allergies in all three patients, two of whom had elevations in plasma histamine. Each demonstrated limitations in symptom-free range of motion of the limbs and spine and two presented with pathological Hoffman reflexes. These comorbid features have been reported in adolescents and young adults with ME/CFS. ME/CFS can be triggered by COVID-19 in adolescents and young adults. Further work is needed to determine the pathogenesis of ME/CFS after COVID-19 and optimal methods of treating these patients. Our preliminary study calls attention to several comorbid features that deserve further attention as potential targets for intervention. These include neuromuscular limitations that could be treated with manual forms of therapy, orthostatic intolerance and POTS for which there are multiple medications and non-pharmacologic therapies, treatable allergic and mast cell phenomena, and neurologic abnormalities that may require specific treatment. Larger studies will need to ascertain the prevalence of these abnormalities.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Edited by: Carmen Scheibenbogen, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany Reviewed by: Getnet Ali, The Ohio State University, United States; Mustafa Al-Zoughool, Health Science Center, Kuwait This article was submitted to Infectious Diseases – Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment, a section of the journal Frontiers in Medicine
ISSN:	2296-858X 2296-858X
DOI:	10.3389/fmed.2021.668944