- New and rare Covid-19 symptom discovered: restless anal syndrome.
- The case of a 77-year-old Japanese, published in the BMC Infectious Disease magazine.
- It is a disease similar to restless legs syndrome.
Over 200 symptoms have been associated with long-term Covid-19, including double vision, voice changes, nail discoloration, and reduced testicular size. But the case of a Japanese patient, reported in the journal BMC Infectious Disease, is unique: a curious version of restless legs syndrome but at the anal level. Futura-Sciences talks about it.
In 2020, a 77-year-old man – whom we will call M – showed up at the Tokyo hospital with the classic symptoms of Covid-19: sore throat, cough, low fever. After a night spent in the hospital, a PCR test (molecular swab) confirmed the diagnosis: M is positive for Covid-19. Despite mild pneumonia, the case is classified as mild by doctors and the patient is treated with anti-asthma and antiviral drugs.
After 21 days M regained near-normal breathing and was sent home. A few weeks later, however, he began to hear a “deep anal discomfortAbout 10 centimeters above the perineum, the muscle located between the pubis and the anus. Discomfort not relieved by defecation but which subsides when the patient walks, runs or “plays motion-based video games,” as reported by doctors.
Rest, on the other hand, worsens symptoms, which also tend to occur in the evening, leading doctors to prescribe sleeping pills. Colposcopy revealed some internal hemorrhoids but no other bladder or erection abnormalities were detected. Nothing to report even neurologically. Doctors are then diagnosed with the restless anal syndrome, a rare variant of restless legs syndrome.
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), which affects between 4 and 10% of the population, causes an irrepressible urge to move with a kind of tingling in the legs. Some variants have already been reported in the scientific literature, affecting the head and neck, oral cavity, abdomen or perineum. No cause for RLS has yet been clearly identified. Scientists suggest the dysfunction of dopamine receptors, with contributing factors such as iron deficiency, kidney failure, or type 2 diabetes. In the case of M, doctors believe that the anal restless syndrome may have been triggered by the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 because the man did not have never experienced such ailments before.
Two similar cases of post-Covid-19 RLS have already been reported and also rare cases of sindrome di Guillain-Barré, an autoimmune disease that attacks peripheral nerves following Covid-19 infection. Eventually, M was treated with the clonazepam, a drug of the benzodiazepine class.