2023-09-06 05:13:08
The baby’s eyes returned to their usual brown color five days after the end of the treatment.
From brown to indigo blue: A baby in Thailand’s eyes changed color after receiving an antiviral drug to treat COVID-19.
A drug with strange side effects: A 6-month-old baby’s eyes changed color after receiving the antiviral treatment Favipiravir to treat COVID-19. What were originally brown eyes were temporarily transformed into an indigo blue shade after the treatment. This is an unusual case, but it is not the first time that doctors have detected this strange phenomenon.
strange phenomenon
Favipiravir was initially developed to treat diseases such as influenza and Ebola. Its mechanism works by inhibiting the replication of RNA-based viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. Approved in 2020 by China to treat COVID-19, its use has spread to other countries, including India, Japan, and Thailand.
But beyond its effectiveness against the virus, eye discoloration is what has attracted the most attention. In 2021, a similar incident was reported where a 20-year-old man experienced a change in the color of his corneas to blue after consuming Favipiravir. Another individual demonstrated that his eyes fluorescently glowed under ultraviolet light after his treatment.
The case of the Thai baby, documented in the magazine Frontiers in Pediatrics, details that after a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 and receiving Favipiravir, his dark brown eyes glowed blue in the sunlight just 18 hours after the start of treatment. Although the child only took the drug for three days and the color returned to normal five days after stopping the drug, this phenomenon has raised questions in the medical community.
The drug Favipiravir is typically used to treat illnesses such as influenza or Ebola. Image: Algi Febri Sugita/ZUMAPRESS.com/picture alliance
A matter of metabolism
According to what Dr. Vik Sharma, an eye surgeon at the LondonOC clinic in the United Kingdom, told Live Science magazine, the coloration does not come from the iris (normally responsible for eye color), but from the accumulation of fluorescent substances in the cornea, derived from how the body processes favipiravir. The doctors who treated the boy proposed that the discoloration could be related to specific components of the drug, such as fluorescent compounds, which could accumulate in different tissues.
According to the report authors, factors such as a person’s age, length of treatment and dose of the drug can influence their chances of developing the rare side effect and how long it takes for the eye discoloration to disappear.
Uncertainty about safety
Although the baby did not present vision problems later, questions are raised about the long-term effects of this color change. Sharma stressed the urgency of further research to clarify the exact causes and potential repercussions in the future. Although the incidence is low, it is not clear why it affects certain individuals and not others.
Although favipiravir is currently the mainstay of oral antiviral treatment for children with COVID-19, its safety profile in children still in the developmental phase is uncertain. Therefore, monitoring of the long-term safety of favipiravir used in pediatric patients is of paramount importance. The reported adverse event, although rare, should be taken seriously and closely monitored in future cases.
ies (Frontiers in Pediatrics, LiveScience)
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