A Case Report of Atypical Presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in a Young Child

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disorder with varied etiology and clinical presentation. It is unusual during infancy. We describe a 2-year-old boy who presented with progressive mucocutaneous lesions with arthralgia and limb pain. He had hepatomegaly, Raynaud's phenomenon, brisk deep tendon reflexes, and bilateral upper and lower limb weakness. On evaluation, he was positive for ANA and SSA only without any complement activation and was subsequently diagnosed with mixed features of both subacute and chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Infantile onset lupus is rare and should be suspected in children with mucocutaneous and musculoskeletal involvement.