The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2013 , Vol 55 , Num 1
An Unusual Cause of Secondary Capillary Leak Syndrome in a Child: Rotavirus Diarrhea
1Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and 2Department of Pediatrics, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara,
Turkey. E-mail: drbaldemir@yahoo.com
Secondary capillary leak syndrome is characterized by loss of fluid and
proteins to the interstitial space due to different causes, which are related
to endothelial damage. Rotavirus is the most common pathogen of diarrhea
in childhood, especially during the first years of life. This virus is generally
responsible for severe diarrhea and electrolyte imbalance in children. Some
complications can also occur during the course of the rotavirus diarrhea. An
eight-month-old girl with rotavirus diarrhea admitted to our clinic with severe
dehydration. After restoring the intravascular volume, hypoalbuminemia and
generalized edema were seen in the recruitment phase of the treatment, which
was attributed to secondary capillary leak syndrome. She was successfully
treated with prednisolone and discharged from the hospital without any
sequelae. Herein, we report an infant with rotavirus diarrhea complicated with
secondary capillary leak syndrome, which is an unidentified complication of
the disease. To our knowledge, this is the first such case in the literature.
Keywords :
capillary leak syndrome, rotavirus diarrhea, dehydration, children.