New Onset Positive Autoantibodies Following Covid-19 Infection

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Since the original outbreak in December 2019, over 100 million people have been confirmed to have been infected by COVID-19 and over two million people have died. The presentation seen in patients may vary widely based on multiple factors. Fever has been reported in up to 99% of patients, while other common symptoms seen are dyspnea, fatigue, anosmia, and myalgia. Around 80% of COVID-19 patients present with a mild respiratory illness that can be managed at home, while around 15% need basic hospital care and another 5% have a critical illness requiring more intensive support. While many patients have this classical presentation with respiratory symptoms, there are other clinical presentations and outcomes that have been documented. A link between COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases has been discussed as patients with COVID-19 that had a new onset of autoimmune antibodies and increased levels of common inflammatory markers during infection had the worst prognosis and outcome. Because of this possible link between COVID-19 and autoimmune diseases, our patient that presented with COVID-19 and eventual multiorgan failure was tested for autoimmune antibodies.