Background:
Epiglottitis is an inflammatory disease involving the epiglottis, vallecula, arytenoid cartilage, and aryepiglottic wrinkles. Acute epiglottitis is relatively rare, but it can quickly lead to a life-threatening airway obstruction. Diagnosis of epiglottitis is clinical, but radiography and direct vision of the epiglottis can also help with the diagnosis. Clinical manifestations of epiglottitis include fever, sore throat, and in the event of imminent airway obstruction, symptoms of muffled sound, falls, tripod position, and stridor might be presented as well.
Epiglottitis can be caused by some bacterial agents or viruses such as adenovirus and measles.
COVID-۱۹ was first detected in December ۲۰۱۹ in a group of patients with severe respiratory symptoms in Hubei Province, China. Common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and loss of smell and taste. Although
COVID-۱۹ disease has a variety of manifestations, only one case of epiglottitis following
COVID-۱۹ disease has been reported in adults. However, no cases of epiglottitis have been reported in children with COVID-۱۹. Case presentation: The patient, a ۴-year-old boy, came to our center and the patient's family complained about shortness of breath and progressive lethargy of the child from ۱۰ days ago. Since last week, he had been sleeping in a sitting position due to the aggravation of shortness of breath. On physical examination, respiratory distress, tachypnea, subcostal retraction, tail stridor, and crackle was heard in both lungs. Diagnosed with suspected bronchoscopy epiglottitis; and a large, swollen, and cherry-red epiglottis was observed. Based on the patient's history of respiratory symptoms and the prevalence of COVID-۱۹, a reverse pharyngeal polymerase (RT-PCR) transcript test was requested for
COVID-۱۹ and the
COVID-۱۹ infection was positive. The patient was intubated due to decreased oxygen scorching and was treated with antibiotics due to the diagnosis of epiglottitis and recovered. Conclusion: In this article, we reported the case of a ۴-year-old child with epiglottitis in the context of COVID۱۹. To the best of our knowledge, no case of epiglottitis had been, previously, reported in children with COVID۱۹. Therefore, in our opinion, epiglottitis can probably be one of the manifestations of COVID۱۹ in children.