Immune thrombocytopenia secondary to COVID-19 infection: Report of two
cases and review of the literature.
Abstract
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is well described in children and commonly
associated to recent viral infections. We present a 15-year-old male and
a 3.5-year-old female with ITP secondary to COVID-19. Both patients
presented with bruises, epistaxis and low platelet count. Both were
successfully treated with a single dose of intravenous immunoglobulin.
They had a history of asymptomatic (the first) and mild (the second),
molecularly confirmed, COVID-19 infection three and five weeks prior to
thrombocytopenia respectively, raising the possibility of a causal
association between SAR-COV-2 and ITP. This linkage is rare and remains
a field to be further explored.