Article Text
Abstract
COVID-19 is a novel disease often presenting with a cough, fever or a change in smell or taste. Recently, it has been recognised that COVID-19 may result in multisystemic issues and thus cause atypical symptoms, which can cause diagnostic delay, uncertainty and inaccuracy. A 60-year-old woman presented to the hospital with a 2-day history of mid-thoracic discomfort, intermittent rigours, fevers and general malaise, a few weeks after likely COVID-19 infection. She was admitted and treated for community-acquired pneumonia. However, her symptoms recurred despite multiple courses of antibiotics, which prompted further workup. A combination of a pleural and pericardial effusion was identified, leading to a diagnosis of polyserositis, and a COVID-19 antibody test came back positive. Colchicine was effective at resolving her symptoms, leading to further conviction of a probable postviral polyserositis.
- COVID-19
- emergency medicine
- infectious diseases
- rheumatology
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Footnotes
Contributors TV and EH designed the case study. TV was the main author concerned with the data collection. EH analysed and interpreted the data of the case study. EH and SS drafted the article. All authors were involved in the critical revision of the article and approved the final version to be published.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.