February 13, 2024
Vaccines
University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão (Brazil)
"Introduction
We present a case of infant death from an unknown pathology that began after the use of an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. The autopsy identified pericarditis and myocarditis, with extensive morphological overlap between the possible differential diagnoses and a difficult final etiological classification.
2. Case Report
A 7-year-old male child presented with myalgia and fever 3 days after receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2)... After seven days, he presented with monoarthritis in his right ankle. Blood tests indicated leukocytosis... Three weeks post-symptom onset, with ongoing joint pain and walking difficulty, new tests were performed. Elevated OAS [O antistreptolysin] levels prompted hospital admission for intravenous antibiotic treatment with oxacillin... His condition rapidly deteriorated upon diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Post-orotracheal intubation, active bleeding was observed from the tube, leading to an emergency department referral. Laboratory tests indicated leukocytosis, elevated C-reactive protein levels... alongside right upper and lower lung lobe consolidations and ground-glass opacities on chest CT. Unfortunately, the patient died.
3.3 Vaccination against COVID-19 and Myocarditis
... The stimulation of the expression of exosomes, containing both the spike viral protein and inflammatory mediators, associated with the expression of adhesion factors that dysfunctionally stimulate the endothelial cell, plays an important role in [the cardiac injury] mechanism. The spike protein leads to activation of the TLR-4/NF-kB pathway and stimulation of the cell-mediated immune response, with inflammation directed at cardiomyocytes."
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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adverse events,COVID-19,deaths,heart disorders,mRNA,vaccines