Isolated COVID-19 Infection Precipitates Myasthenia Gravis Crisis: A Case Report

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world and caused hundreds of thousands of fatalities across a wide spectrum of patients with varying severity and presenting complaints. The discussion of the ability of this disease to cause significant illness in patients with various risk factors such as myasthenia gravis is important to help guide physicians on recognition and treatment options as the pandemic matures.

Here we discuss a single case of isolated COVID-19 infection that precipitated a myasthenic crisis with no other clinical sequelae in a patient who presented to the emergency department (ED). This report highlights some of the initial difficulties and delay in diagnosis encountered earlier in the pandemic with limited testing supplies and processing labs; however, prompt ED recognition and treatment still led to a favorable outcome.

The patient recovered during this initial presentation and was successfully treated with plasma exchange and steroids only. It is important to recognize that myasthenia gravis patients may represent a uniquely vulnerable population that requires enhanced surveillance and screening to prevent significant morbidity and mortality. This case describes how even a mild infection with no significant clinical sequelae or significant signs on imaging studied can precipitate a crisis event.