COVID-19 can present as myositis: Case study
The patient went on to become critically ill, rheumatologists say
French doctors have reported the case of a man whose first symptom of COVID-19 was severe myositis.
The patient, who was not on any medications and had been well, woke with diffuse myalgia and proximal lower limb weakness, which caused him to fall.
On admission to hospital, he had a bilateral hip flexion deficit graded 3/5 on the Medical Research Council scale.
His bloods showed creatine kinase at 25,384 U/L (normal is below 195 U/L according to the researchers), C-reactive protein at 54mg/L and lymphocytopaenia. He was not febrile.
