Baby’s brown eyes turn blue overnight after COVID-19 treatment

health

by Adriana Diaz

A boy’s eyes, which were treated for common COVID-19 infections, temporarily changed from dark brown to light blue.

As detailed in a case published in a medical journal, the 6-month-old child from Thailand was diagnosed with COVID-19 after suffering a day of fever and cough. Pediatric frontier.

The infant was prescribed the antiviral drug favipiravir. Approved by the Thai Ministry of Public Health in 2022 For children with mild to moderate symptoms.

Amazingly, about 18 hours after starting the medication, the child’s mother noticed that his dark brown eyes had turned bright blue.

The concerned mother contacted a medical professional who was instructed to stop treatment immediately.

After about 5 days, the discoloration disappeared and the child’s cornea returned to its original color. Doctors examined the infant and found that the cornea was clean and not bluish, and that the surface of the iris and anterior lens capsule had no blue pigmentation.

Experts aren’t sure why favipiravir causes the color change, but the fluorescence (the emission of absorbed light) is “due to the drug, its metabolites, or additional tablet ingredients such as titanium dioxide and yellow ferric oxide. It’s something,” he speculates.

Previous studies have noted a “direct relationship” between favipiravir concentration and fluorescence intensity, especially in human hair and nails.

Ultimately, the child did not appear to have suffered any damage to his vision and overcame the symptoms of COVID-19.

The most common side effects of favipiravir include mild hyperuricemia (elevated uric acid levels), diarrhea, and neutropenia (lower levels of white blood cells and neutrophils), taken together. It accounts for about 20% of side effects.

However, in another documented case, the drug caused corneal discoloration.

In 2021, an Indian man reported. First case of unusual side effects from treatment.

An anonymous 20-year-old man was diagnosed with COVID-19 and started taking favipiravir after two days of no improvement while taking vitamin C, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin D and ivermectin. Prescribed.

However, on the second day of favipiravir treatment, the man noticed that his dark brown eyes had turned bright blue. Doctors advised him to stop taking the drug, and his eyes returned to normal color after just one day.

A report on the infant was released in April 2023, but the exact date of the incident is unknown.

Favipiravir has been approved in Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Kazakhstan, and in 2020 it was also approved for emergency use in Italy.

US researchers found that the drug Effective treatment for novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) Several studies have tested the efficacy of drugs to fight this disease, but they are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.