Macrophage activation syndrome is a serious, potentially fatal complication of the systemic form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It shares some common characteristics with the multisystem inflammatory disease in children, which is a late complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children.
We present an 11-year-old girl diagnosed with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis who has been diagnosed with macrophage activation syndrome soon after recovering from COVID-19 infection. The patient has developed pronounced thrombotic microangiopathy, a severe complication marked by significant drop in platelets, anaemia combined with low levels of haptoglobin, presence of schistocytes in blood smear, and new onset gross haematuria.
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