United Kingdom: A report claims that, in rare instances, vocal cord paralysis may result from COVID’s effects on the nervous system.
A SARS-CoV-2 infection caused an otherwise healthy teenage girl to experience breathing difficulties a few days later. Her vocal cords seemed to have been paralysed by COVID-19. For more than a year, the girl’s breathing was supported by a surgical tracheostomy, or opening in her windpipe beneath her voice box.
Despite reports of the condition in adults, the authors state that this is the first case of vocal cord paralysis in a teenager following a COVID-19 diagnosis.
“The virus has known neurologic complications, including headache, seizure, and peripheral neuropathy. The current case reveals that vocal cord paralysis may be an additional neuropathic sequela of the virus,” otolaryngologists Mr. Danielle Larrow and Mr. Christopher Hartnick from Mass Eye and Ear at Harvard Medical School wrote.
The 15-year-old girl showed up at the hospital emergency room 13 days after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. After five days, her initial symptoms, which included fatigue, fever, and congestion, improved. However, she reported experiencing abrupt dyspnea nine days following the positive test, particularly during physical activity.
A series of tests revealed that infections and neurological conditions were ruled out. Exams of her brain, spine, and swallowing did not reveal any clear problems that would be connected to her symptoms.
Doctors concluded that the teen’s numbness and weakness on one side might have been caused by her prior COVID-19 infection, which also appeared to have weakened her vocal cords.
“She was having her senior prom a year and a quarter to the date of when she lost her function, and she told me she was not going to go to the prom with her tracheostomy in place,” Mr. Hartnick remarked.
“We decided to intervene so that she could graduate high school and go to her prom tracheostomy-free, which she did,” Mr. Hartnick added.
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