GRAND RAPIDS, MI – During the coronavirus pandemic, many people were under the impression that children were at very low risk of being hospitalized or dying of COVID-19, an idea often supported by health officials during discussions. on the safety of reopening the school.
But a rare condition that developed in some children weeks after the diagnosis of COVID-19 shows that the new coronavirus can actually have a dangerous impact on children.
Multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children – commonly known as MIS-C – is a rare but serious complication of the coronavirus, which occurs in about 2% of children infected with COVID-19, says Dr. Rosemary Olivero, infectious disease in children. physician at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.
The condition is an overactive immune response to COVID-19 that infects organs and can severely affect the heart, in some cases in the case of otherwise healthy children.
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As Michigan experiences an increase in coronavirus cases among young people, health experts are concerned that a wave in MIS-C cases may follow soon, Olivero said. There has been a 200% increase in COVID-19 cases among children over the past few weeks, the pediatrician said.
“We are very concerned about the possibility that we will see more cases of MIS-C, given how many cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in our pediatric population,” Olivero said Monday, April 12th. “In terms of MIS-C in Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, fortunately we have not seen a large increase in cases.”
Olivero said there was a huge increase in MIS-C diagnoses after the COVID-19 surge in October and November last year, and doctors are worried it could happen again.
“As we see more and more cases in young people, we fear that we will see more cases of MIS-C in the Children’s Hospital, so we are very prepared for the possibility,” she said.
MIS-C can occur in children of all ages, from newborns to age 17, and occurs two to eight weeks after a COVID-19 infection or exposure, Olivero said.
Parents of Michigan children admitted to the hospital by MIS-C call the disease ‘frightening’ and heartbreaking.
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The condition can appear in children, regardless of whether they have experienced any symptoms of the coronavirus, Olivero said.
It can be difficult for parents to recognize MIS-C because their child may have been infected with the virus but never knew it because they were asymptomatic.
‘One thing that’s very challenging is because children get so soft when it comes to COVID-19, and there have been several cases where the family did not even know the child was sick, and that they were still with COVID was infected. ‘, but they had such mild symptoms that they were never tested, and eventually they developed MIS-C,’ ‘Olivero said.
Therefore, health officials are encouraging parents to be aware of the symptoms of MIS-C now, even if their child has never been diagnosed with COVID-19, Olivero said.
There are various symptoms of MIS-C that parents should look out for in their children, Olivero said. These signs include:
- Fever, which can last at least one day and last longer than three days
- Rash that may look like red bumps or blemishes on the skin
- Redness in the white parts of the eye
- Swelling or red color of the lips and tongue
- Inflated hands or feet
- Pronounced gastrointestinal symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea
Michigan is currently leading the country in COVID-19 cases amid the ongoing boom. Dozens of recent outbreaks have been linked to K-12 schools, and government Gretchen Whitmer last week encouraged high schools to do virtual and youth sports to stand still for two weeks to slow the spread.
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As a growing number of coronavirus cases occur in younger people, Olivero said it is now time to look at symptoms of the rare condition.
Olivero said MIS-C is one of the “narrow effects” of the coronavirus, especially because it can affect children who are otherwise very healthy and do not experience severe symptoms of COVID-19.
“Although (MIS-C) affects such a small portion of the population, a young health child will in most cases have the more life-threatening condition (MIS-C), rather than having acute respiratory COVID-19,” Olivero said.
“In general, we would think that it would affect our children with chronic medical conditions more than our children, but it seems that our children with young health are MIS-C.”
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