Rare complication from the flu: Rhabdomyolysis or "Muscle Melting"

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26247834-2702,00.html


AUSTRALIAN medical experts have warned doctors worldwide to be on the alert for a rare but alarming complication of swine flu after a teenage boy suffered "muscle melting" so severe his urine turned almost black.

The unnamed 16-year-old suffered fever and other flu symptoms for three days before his urine went dark and intense pain meant he could no longer stand or move his arms and legs.

He was admitted to Melbourne's Monash Medical Centre, where tests showed he was suffering a condition called rhabdomyolysis -- a condition caused when muscles are damaged and dissolve, flooding the bloodstream with their by-products.

Shortly after admission one blood test for creatine kinase -- an enzyme produced when muscles break down -- returned a reading of 164,149 international units per litre (IU/L), more than 700 times above a normal reading of less than 230 IU/L.

He was given antiviral drugs, morphine and large amounts of fluids, but his creatine kinase levels continued to soar and after four days in hospital peaked at 1,127,000 IU/L, before gradually declining.

...

"He had the highest creatine kinase I have ever seen in over 20 years of practice -- over 1 million.

"It's a tribute to how young people cope with significant disease. In older people that (degree of muscle breakdown) is associated with causing kidney failure, but he sailed through it."

Dr Buttery said the boy's pain was so severe it was unlikely he would have been able to remain at home, but had he attempted to do so he would have been at high risk of kidney damage. Tweet