nj acts logoPlease read Drs. Horton and Gaur’s article in Lupus titled, “Acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 in a child with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We report a 5-year-old child with a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who presented with COVID-19 complicated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Ten months prior to this admission, the patient was diagnosed with SLE when he developed recurrent fevers, rash, and joint pain and swelling. At the time, serum testing revealed  hypocomplementemia and positive antibodies for ANA, dsDNA, Smith, ribosomal-P, anticardiolipin IgG, and SSA. He was subsequently managed on methotrexate (25 mg weekly), prednisolone (15 mg daily) and hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQ; 200 mg every other day). He had not achieved remission of SLE symptoms by the onset of COVID-19, with high inflammatory markers, persistent arthralgias, elevated muscle enzymes, but slowly improving complement levels. To read the full article.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 in a child with systemic lupus erythematosus. Sukhdeo S, Negroponte E, Rajasekhar H, Gaur S, Horton DB, Malhotra A, Moorthy LN.Lupus. 2021 Apr;30(5):836-839. DOI: 10.1177/0961203321989791 PMID: 33509065 Epub 2021 Jan 28.