A six-month-old baby’s brown eyes turned blue after taking an antiviral treatment called favipiravir to treat her Covid-19 infection.
- A baby’s eyes turned blue after taking anti-viral treatment for Covid-19.
- This treatment is called favipiravir. It is mainly used in Asia.
- For doctors, this rare effect could come from its composition.
A surprising medical situation was recently reported in Thailand. A six-month-old baby’s eyes changed from dark brown to a blue tint after taking an antiviral treatment for Covid-19, called favipiravir. This extremely rare phenomenon has aroused the interest of experts and requires additional research to determine the exact cause and possible long-term effects. The study of this case was presented in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics.
Covid-19: his eyes take on a blue tint in 18 hours
In their article, the doctors report that the baby was taken to a hospital by his mother because he had developed a fever and cough. After testing positive for Covid-19, he received tablets from favipiravir and a syrup containing the same molecule was prescribed to him.
If a 2022 studycarried out by the CEA, INSERM and Paris Cité University, questions its effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, this drug is commonly used in Thailand and other Asian countries to treat affected children. of Covid-19. Favipiravir works by preventing the replication of genetic material virale which inhibits the spread of the virus in the body. The most commonly observed side effects include diarrhea, a drop in the number of white blood cells or high levels of uric acid in the blood. But, the little boy presented a particularly rare one for his part.
After just 18 hours of treatment, his eyes began to show an unusual blue discoloration. The doctors who treated the infant noticed an accumulation of blue pigments in both corneas. Five days after stopping treatment, strange shade of baby’s eyes has gradually disappeared. Later, during a follow-up visit to an ophthalmologist, no eye abnormalities were detected in the child.
Favipiravir : its composition in question?
Doctors and researchers who studied this astonishing case suggest that the observed eye color change could be due “to the drug, its metabolites or other components found in pills, such as titanium dioxide and iron oxide yellow”.
Laboratory tests showed that favipiravir tablets fluoresced under ultraviolet light. It is therefore possible that the fluorescent components of the drug could have accumulated in the infant’s ocular tissues and given a bluish tint to the eyes. However, further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis and fully understand the mechanisms at play.
The authors add that factors such as patient age, duration of treatment and dosage of favipiravir may influence the risk of developing this adverse effect. However, they are intended to be reassuring: this phenomenon is very rare, it has only been reported a few times.
