Hemolytic anemia in childhood secondary to Mycoplasma Pneumoniae pneumonia

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is rare in childhood with an incidence of approximately 0.8-1.25 cases per 100,000 children and is the most frequent cause of extracorpuscular hemolytic anemia, having a higher incidence between 3 and 4 years of age.

Most of them are idiopathic, although they can also be secondary to autoimmune diseases, lymphoproliferative syndromes, tumors or infections (notably Mycoplasma and Epstein-Barr).

They usually present as a self-limiting condition associated with a viral infection. Children under 2 years of age and adolescents frequently present chronic forms, associated or not, with systemic diseases, especially immunodeficiencies or autoimmune disorders.

We present the case of an 11-year-old male patient, diagnosed with pneumonia with positive serologies for Mycoplasma and Cytomegalovirus, who developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia and required blood transfusion.