Rare Case of Surviving Infant with Strawberry Yoghurt like Blood Diagnosed to Be Infantile Hypertriglyceridemia at 1 Month Old: A Case Report

Background: Hypertriglyceridemia in children means increased plasma fasting Triglyceride levels above the 95th percentile for age and sex. For children aged 0 to 9 years, a triglyceride level greater than or equal to 100 mg/dl is considered above the 95th percentile. Hypertriglyceridemia can be mild to borderline high, moderate to high, very high, severe and very severe (>2000 mg/dl). We present the case of a 1 month and 3 weeks old baby who presented with difficulty in breathing. It was accidentally found to have strawberry yoghurt like blood during phlebotomy, of which upon investigation had very high triglyceride levels of >2000 mg/dl. Case Presentation: 1 month and 3 weeks old female baby, admitted as referral from nearby health centre presenting with difficulty in breath, her blood sample was incidentally found to appear as strawberry yoghurt like. Clinically the infant had features suggestive of respiratory distress, with no other systemic abnormalities noted. Chest X-ray that was done had features of pneumonia. The working diagnosis on admission was Pneumonia, Electrolyte imbalance. The strawberry yoghurt like blood raised suspicions of hypertriglyceridemia. Our triglyceride levels in the infant were very high at 136 mmol/l (12,046 mg/dl). The patient was treated with IV antibiotics for pneumonia, electrolytes were corrected and Rosuvastatin was started. This patient improved remarkably and was discharged with Rosuvastatin. Lipid profile was followed up for 4 consecutive months in our outpatient clinic with a drastic drop in triglyceride and cholesterol. Conclusion: We report a case of infantile hypertriglyceridemia found accidentally during phlebotomy. Despite limited resource to evaluate further on primary cause of this condition as well as family’s poor economic status to seek further medical evaluation outside the country, this case report raises awareness on how to deal with this condition in a low resource setting. It also highlights the role of statins in the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia.