Abstract:
Background: Juvenile dermatomyositis is an infammatory disease of muscles, skin, and blood vessels of unknown
cause afecting all age and ethnic groups, with a reported incidence of 1.9–4.1 per million. It manifests with weakness
in axial and proximal muscles and typical skin lesions. Historically, the Bohan and Peter classifcation schema has been
used to diagnose juvenile dermatomyositis.
Case presentation: We report an 8-year-old African female child, who presented with features of juvenile dermato myositis and a rare association with subclinical autoimmune thyroiditis. This case illustrates the typical presentation,
diagnosis, and treatment outcomes of this highly misdiagnosed condition.
Conclusion: Due to the limited resources and knowledge about this under-reported disease in resource-constrained
settings, the characteristic manifestations of juvenile dermatomyositis can be easily missed and thus requires a high
index of suspicion for earlier diagnosis and management.
