Key result
Toddler with hepatitis A liver failure develops fatal ocular Guillain-Barré and myasthenia gravis despite treatment.
Why the study?
Immunological manifestations involving the nervous system are rare in hepatitis A infection.
Case Report (n=1)
This case highlights a rare coincidental presentation of acute viral hepatitis A infection with autoimmune neurological manifestations (Guillain-Barré syndrome and ocular myasthenia gravis) in a toddler.
Alerts clinicians to possible autoimmune neurology in pediatric hepatitis A; leaves open causality and needs more cases.
Hepatitis A is one of the most common causes of acute viral hepatitis in children. Immunological manifestations involving the nervous system are rare with hepatitis A infection. We report a case of a toddler who presented with acute liver failure secondary to hepatitis A infection. The child showed clinical and laboratory improvement initially with conservative management. However, after the initial improvement, she developed acute-onset ptosis along with areflexia. Serological and neurophysiological tests revealed the occurrence of ocular variant Guillain-Barré syndrome and ocular myasthenia gravis, which was only partially responsive to treatment (intravenous immunoglobulin and pyridostigmine). A sudden clinical deterioration was noted after the onset of ptosis. She succumbed on day 40 of hospitalisation due to hospital-acquired infection along with the primary hepatic pathology. This is a rare coincidental presentation of acute viral hepatitis A infection with autoimmune manifestations.
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KS et al. (2023) conducted a case report in Acute liver failure secondary to hepatitis A infection with Guillain-Barré syndrome and ocular myasthenia gravis (n=1). Intravenous immunoglobulin and pyridostigmine was evaluated on Clinical outcome. A toddler with acute liver failure due to hepatitis A developed ocular variant Guillain-Barré syndrome and ocular myasthenia gravis, partially responding to IVIG and pyridostigmine before succumbing.
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