According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a boy with a bright yellow tongue was diagnosed with cold agglutinin disease, a rare autoimmune disease that caused his immune system to attack and destroy his own red blood cells.
The boy’s yellow tongue (left) was a sign of a rare autoimmune disease. He also developed dark urine (right). (Photo credit: The New England Journal of Medicine / www.nejm.org)
A 12-year-old boy with a bright yellow tongue was diagnosed with a severe and rare autoimmune disease that caused his immune system to attack and destroy his own red blood cells.
According to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the boy went to the hospital after having had a sore throat, dark urine, abdominal pain, and pale skin for several days.
First, doctors at Toronto Hospital for Sick Children found that the boy had jaundice, a condition that usually results in yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes. However, they were amazed by the bright yellow tint on his tongue.
After doing some tests, doctors found the boy had anemia and was infected with EpsteinBarr virus – a common virus that usually infects people in childhood and has also been linked to a number of autoimmune diseases.
The boy was diagnosed with cold agglutinin disease, a rare autoimmune disease in which a person’s immune system attacks and destroys their own red blood cells. While this condition is triggered by cold temperatures, doctors suspect the boy contracted the disease due to an infection with the EpsteinBarr virus.
According to the USA National Institute of Health, Cold agglutinin disease causes anemia and can also lead to a rapid breakdown of red blood cells, leading to bilirubin buildup, which causes jaundice.
Treatment for the boy included blood transfusions and oral steroids for seven weeks to reduce the activity of the immune system. The boy “recovered well” after leaving the hospital and the color of the tongue has gradually returned to normal, the report said.
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