Joint Manifestations following COVID-19 Infection- A Case Series of Six Patients

Abstract

A rare subset of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) positive patients has musculoskeletal manifestations including arthritis, arthralgia, myalgia and non specific bodyaches. Moreover, postviral Reactive Arthritis (ReA) has been reported following COVID-19 infection. This article reports the characteristic joint manifestations of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in 6 out of 211 consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and treated at dedicated hospital. One 49-year-old female patient developed arthritis while having active COVID-19 infection, one 54-year-old male had post COVID-19 ReA, and one 48-year-old female was found to have undifferentiated arthritis. One 58-year-old female patient was initially thought to have ReA the diagnosis was reconsidered later when her symptoms resolved without any disease modifying agents. Two patients 37-year-old male and 63-year-old female, developed arthralgia following COVID-19 infection. Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids were found to be beneficial in the series of patients. The key point to be noted is that not all arthritis or arthralgia following COVID-19 is ReA.

Keywords

• coronavirus disease-2019
• postviral arthritis
• severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2