A Case Series of Amoebic Liver Abscess in Patients With COVID-19 Infection

Globally, amoebiasis is the second leading cause of death due to parasitic diseases. Amoebic liver abscess (ALA) as an opportunistic infection in recently recovered COVID 19 disease patients has not been reported earlier.

We present here a case series of 13 patients of ALA admitted during the month of May 2021 in BLK hospital, New Delhi, and had recently recovered from COVID 19 disease.

Out of 13, eight patients had moderate, and one had severe COVID 19 disease. All these patients had received steroids for the management of COVID 19 disease. The remaining 4 (30%) patients had mild disease. The mean age of our patients was 50 years (37-81 years). Out of 13 patients, nine (70%) were male, 5 were diabetic, 2 were hypertensive, and none were alcoholic. The most common presentation was fever (11/13) followed by upper abdomen pain (10/13). The mean time of symptom (fever or pain abdomen) onset from COVID 19 positivity date was 19 days (range 15-23 days). A complication the in form of localized intraperitoneal rupture was common in these patients and was seen in more than 50% (7/13) of patients. All the patients were managed with IV Metronidazole and abscess aspiration. All the patients were discharged, and the mean hospital stay was 6.6 days.

We report here an increase in the incidence of ALA in recently recovered COVID 19 patients and propose that it is most likely due to alteration in the immune state of these patients. It is important for physicians to investigate for liver abscess in patients who present again with fever and/or pain abdomen within 2 weeks of COVID 19 recovery.