Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 Infection in a Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipient: A Case Report from India

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic affected millions of people across India. COVID-19 cases are fewer in children with less severity and better outcomes than in adults. However, a small proportion develop severe illness and succumb to the disease. Clinical manifestations and optimal management of COVID-19 in immunocompromised children are not clearly known. Remdesivir was shown to be efficient in reducing the recovery time in COVID-19 patients requiring supplemental oxygen. Remdesivir is approved for use in children with severe COVID-19, but there are no guidelines in patients with risk factors like recent solid organ transplantation. We report a case of a 10-year-old kidney transplant recipient (KTR) infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2, 2.5 months after the transplantation. Unlike most children, he presented with high fever, cough, and vomiting. His inflammatory markers were elevated. In this case report, we discussed management and clinical outcomes of this patient. In view of recent kidney transplantation and the severity of infection with emergent oxygen requirement, we gave him remdesivir. We continued prednisolone and tacrolimus and stopped mycophenolate. He recovered completely in 7 days. We feel that severely immunosuppressed KTR children with COVID-19 will benefit with remdesivir administration. Monitoring tacrolimus trough levels is essential for maintaining adequate immunosuppression.