COVID-19 Developed During Systemic Steroid Therapy for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease: A Case Report

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The use of immunomodulatory therapy in the setting of coexistence of uveitis and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains controversial. We report a case of COVID-19 during systemic steroid therapy for Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease (VKH).

Case report

A 43-year-old female was diagnosed with VKH and started on steroid pulse therapy (1,000 mg/day) followed by high-dose oral corticosteroids. Two weeks after discharge from the hospital, she was readmitted to the intensive care unit with severe acute respiratory syndrome due to SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by PCR test, and fortunately both VKH and COVID-19-induced respiratory disease improved.

Conclusion

Given the absence of international agreement on how to manage COVID-19 patients with steroid-dependent VKH, existing clinical guidelines should be reviewed thoroughly to formulate useful strategies for managing VKH patients on steroid treatment who contract COVID-19. Furthermore, the outcomes of patients with steroid-dependent autoimmune uveitis including VKH who develop COVID-19 should be analyzed.

KEYWORDS:

• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
• systemic steroid therapy
• Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.