Karnataka: 13-year-old boy diagnosed with post-Covid brain condition, first such case in a child

June 30, 2021

Post-Covid complications have been a common thing in several adults given the potency of the deadly coronavirus in its various mutated forms, but Karnataka has now detected a first case of complication in children after a 13-year-old boy in Davanagere was found to have a rare brain condition after getting infected.
“A 13-year-old boy in Karnataka’s Davanagere has been diagnosed with Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy of Childhood, a condition that affects brain, post-Covid recovery. This is probably the first case in a child post-recovery,” Dr NK Kalappanavar, Medical Director at the SS Institute of Medical Sciences in Davanagere, said.
The complication was found in the child hailing from Hoovinahadagali village in the district.
“The child had been infected with Covid-19 and had recovered but later developed ANEC. Till now, we have been thinking that multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was the only post- COVID complication. Hereafter, we have to watch out for ANEC,” Dr Kalappanavar told news agency PTI.
He claims this is the first case of ANEC as a post-Covid complication in the state that has come to his notice.
The 13-year-old reportedly had very high antigen, indicating that the boy had infections.
Dr Kalappanavar said that the child is recovering now, adding that the ANEC could prove fatal if not diagnosed and treated in time.
The treatment of the conditiom is expensive as one injection costs between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh, he said.