Doctors have reported on what they say is the first case of a patient whose initial presentation of COVID-19 was rhabdomyolysis.

“It is well known that COVID-19 can present a wide variety of complications during the course of infection; however, the presence of rhabdomyolysis as an initial condition has not been reported so far,” the authors write in BMJ Case Reports.

The 71-year-old man went to the ED of a hospital in Mexico City a couple of weeks after returning from Miami, Florida, US.

He had a one-week history of dry coughing, mild dyspnoea and a fever of 38°C that did not resolve with paracetamol.