An 8-year-old-girl with juvenile dermatomyositis and autoimmune thyroiditis in Tanzania: a case report

BACKGROUND: Juvenile dermatomyositis is an inflammatory disease of muscles, skin, and blood vessels of unknown cause affecting 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 classification 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 dermatomyositis 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.