Deep venous thrombosis and acute pericarditis associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in a Congolese infant with sickle cell disease: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the pandemic, no severe pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 cases have been described in Congo. CASE: We studied a 3-month-old male child of Congolese origin who was admitted to the pediatric department with 7-day history of fever, unilateral lower leg swelling, and dyspnea. There was no known history of contact with a coronavirus disease 2019 patient, and all the family members were asymptomatic. Nasopharyngeal swabs done at admission did not detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. However, serology tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies were positive for immunoglobulin M and negative for immunoglobulin G. Hemoglobin electrophoresis showed hemoglobin A1, hemoglobin A2, hemoglobin F, and hemoglobin S of 46.2%, 2.5%, 19.9%, and 38.4%, respectively. Chest X-ray showed retrocardiac pneumonia in the left lung, and Doppler ultrasound of the left lower limb showed a recent total femoropopliteal venous thrombosis. At day 10 of hospitalization, our patient had classical signs of cardiac tamponade with a voluminous pericardial effusion seen on echocardiographic examination and elevated C-reactive protein, compatible with a diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a case of plausible severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection associated with venous thrombosis and acute pericarditis in Congo. CONCLUSION: We hypothesized that this case of venous thrombosis and acute pericarditis in a Congolese child with heterozygous sickle cell disease was related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection.

Sacrococcygeal teratoma in a female newborn with clinical features of trisomy 13: a case report from Central Africa.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this report is to describe the first patient presenting clinical features of trisomy 13 in association with a sacrococcygeal teratoma. CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of a Congolese female infant born with bilateral cleft lip and palate, hypotelorism, microcephaly, and capillary hemangioma on her face. She presented with a large sacrococcygeal mass (15.0 cm ×12.0 cm ×5.0 cm) with a cystic consistency and a positive transillumination. CONCLUSION: This observation suggests that overexpression of certain genes on chromosome 13 may lead to tumor formation from remnant cells of Hensen's node.