Sarcoidosis presenting in infancy: a rare occurrence.

Sarcoidosis is infrequent in children. Clinical features of sarcoidosis occurring in children 8-15 years old include pulmonary, lymphnodes and ocular involvement. The picture is similar to that of adult-sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis in infants, however, is rare and it differs from the adult disease. Sarcoidosis occurring in infancy has features clinically similar to that of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The case presented here is that of an infant who developed sarcoidosis at the age of 3 months. Her illness had all the features of a multisystem illness except for the hilar or parenchymal lung involvement. Because of the complicated and unusual illness the diagnosis of sarcoidosis was not established till the child was five years old. She received corticosteroids and immunosuppressive treatment in varying doses for a long time. Now at the age of 18, the patient's disease seems to have undergone a complete remission.