SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – An alarming number of children are being rushed to Rady Children’s Hospital for ‘MIS-C’, a respiratory illness caused by COVID-19.
While the coronavirus pandemic dominates the headlines, pediatricians worldwide are seeing a rise in another dangerous trend.
“We are currently only in the midst of the ‘MIS-C’ epidemic,” said Dr. Adriana Tremoulet, a physician for infectious diseases in children at Rady Children’s Hospital, said.
“MIS-C” stands for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. It is an inflammatory response to COVID-19, which mostly affects school-age children who, two to six weeks before, have received COVID themselves or have been exposed to someone with COVID in the household.
“Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, red eyes, red lips, rash in the body, the hands and feet may also have a rash or bright red,” said Dr. Tremoulet said.
Dr Tremoulet says since April last year, there have been 57 cases of “MIS-C” at Rady Children’s Hospital. But a majority of the patients have been seen in the past two months. Time-wise, she says it fits exactly two to six weeks after the COVID rise of the holiday in adults.
“The heart itself is affected. The heart is therefore a pump, and it does not pump well in many of these children,” said Dr. Tremoulet said.
Children spend an average of five to nine days in the Rady Children’s Hospital, and many have care in the Intensive Care Unit. Doctors treat the patients with sufficient doses of anti-inflammatory drugs and, in some cases, steroids.
Dr Tremoulet says that “MIS-C” especially affects Latino and African American children. But it is unknown if this is because there is a greater COVID rate under this demographic or a genetic predisposition.
“Latin America sees a lot of Latino children with ‘MIS-C’, but they also see a lot of COVID. While countries in Asia of course also have less COVID, but they do not see any ‘MIS-‘. C ‘not at all,’ Dr. Tremoulet said.
Dr Tremoulet asks parents to be extra vigilant if they have had COVID in recent weeks or have been exposed to it.
“Use the barometer as a parent, where you know your child is sicker than they normally would be, and seek medical help,” said Dr. Tremoulet said.
The youngest MIS-C patient in Rady Children’s Hospital was two years old and the oldest was in their teens. But nationwide, there have been a number of cases where ‘MIS-C’ occurs in young adults.
The mortality rate of “MIS-C” is 3 to 5%. But fortunately there were no deaths in Rady Children’s Hospital.