CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INDUCED GASTROINTESTINAL BLEEDING AND PANCREATITIS COMPLICATING SEVERE COVID-19 PNEUMONIA: A PARADIGMATIC CASE.
Giacomo Marchi, Alice Vianello, Ernesto Crisafulli, Alessio Maroccia, Stefano Francesco Crinò, Sara Pecori, Giulia Zamboni, Fulvia Mazzaferri, Evelina Tacconelli, Domenico Girelli
Abstract
COVID-19 is a new pandemic disease whose pathophysiology and clinical description are still not completely defined. Besides respiratory symptoms and fever, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (including especially anorexia, diarrhea, and abdominal pain) represent the most frequent clinical manifestations. Emerging data point out that severe SARS-CoV-2 infection causes an immune dysregulation, which in turn may favor other infections. Here we describe a patient with severe COVID-19 pneumonia who developed in the resolving phase abdominal pain associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV)-induced duodenitis with bleeding and pancreatitis. A high level of suspicion toward multiple infections, including CMV, should be maintained in COVID-19 patients with heterogeneous clinical manifestations.