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Brucellosis with splenic abscess in a child initially suspected to have covid-19
Hakan Salman1, Yasin Yılmazer2, Kübra Boztepe2
1Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, 64076Suleyman Demirel University, School of Medicine, Isparta, Turkey.
Insights
The fear of COVID-19 can lead to missed diagnoses of other serious conditions, like brucellosis. Promptly excluding COVID-19 in patients may prevent delays in diagnosing and treating critical illnesses.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Internal Medicine
- Public Health
Background:
- COVID-19 presents with diverse systemic symptoms, necessitating its exclusion in patient evaluations.
- The pervasive fear surrounding COVID-19 influences clinical decision-making and patient triage.
Observation:
- A 15-year-old boy presented with symptoms potentially indicative of multiple conditions.
- Initial diagnostic efforts were heavily influenced by the need to rule out COVID-19.
Findings:
- The patient was diagnosed with brucellosis and a splenic abscess, conditions that were initially overlooked.
- Delayed diagnosis of brucellosis and splenic abscess due to COVID-19 exclusion protocols.
Implications:
- Overemphasis on excluding COVID-19 can lead to diagnostic overshadowing of other critical diseases.
- Healthcare providers must maintain a broad differential diagnosis to avoid missing non-COVID-19 pathologies.
- Public health messaging should balance COVID-19 awareness with the risks of diagnostic delays for other conditions.
Abstract:
COVID-19 can manifest with signs and symptoms related to many different systems. Therefore, in the examination of almost every patient, COVID-19 infection is excluded first This may cause other diseases to be missed, as almost occurred in the case of a 15-year old boy with brucellosis and a splenic abscess. Public and health care personnel fear of COVID-19 may cause more harm than the virus itself.
