PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gomez, Israel
AU  - Turkel, Sarah
AU  - Nasr, Payman
TI  - Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia Comorbidity and COVID-19 Infection: A Case Report
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.2022003212
DP  - 2024 Aug 21
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2024/09/09/ascls.2022003212.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2024/09/09/ascls.2022003212.full
AB  - Apart from severe acute respiratory syndrome and cytokine dysregulation, novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection has also been associated with a broad range of complications including septicemia, thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, Guillain–Barre, antiphospholipid syndrome, and multiple organ failure. Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAIHA) in its clinical presentation is similar to other forms of hemolytic anemias in which hemoglobin level is the most direct indicator of clinical severity of the hemolytic event. In this report, we describe the case of a 31-year-old male, previously diagnosed with idiopathic WAIHA, who goes on to suffer a severe flare following a COVID-19 infection. Prior to the COVID-19 infection, the patient was in a stable condition and was taking part in a clinical study for the treatment of WAIHA. In the case of this patient, the COVID-19 infection elicited a severe hemolytic episode, which required admission to the hospital and multiple units of blood transfusion. The patient’s hematological recovery correlated with improvement from COVID-19 symptoms. The patient was stabilized with glucocorticoids and discharged after 2 weeks of hospitalization. The current case supports the role of COVID-19 infection as a comorbidity factor in WAIHA.