SARS-CoV-2 infection presenting as rhabdomyolysis: case report and review

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the health crisis of our time and a great challenge we face, requiring the implementation of worldwide general containment. The symptoms and complications of COVID-19 are diverse, and rhabdomyolysis is an atypical manifestation. We report a case of a 63-year-old patient, admitted to the emergency room for myalgia and fever evolving over 5 days, in whom laboratory and other examinations indicated rhabdomyolysis complicated by renal insufficiency. During the diagnostic workup, the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result for COVID-19 was positive, revealing infection with sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although the severity of COVID-19 infection relates mainly to acute respiratory syndrome, other complications can be prognostic, and these complications make the management of this disease difficult. Rhabdomyolysis is one of the fatal complications; first, because the pathophysiological mechanism is not yet understood, and second, because rhabdomyolysis, itself, is usually complicated by acute renal failure. This complication makes the disease management difficult, especially in patients with SARS. Rhabdomyolysis during COVID-19 infection represents a significant challenge, given the few reported cases, and further research is required to develop a therapeutic consensus.