8-year-old Florida Keys boy hospitalized with a disease caused by COVID

SOUTHWEST MIAMI DADE, Fla. – An 8-year-old boy from the Florida Keys never showed any symptoms of COVID-19, according to his mother, but is now in Miami at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital fighting for his life. His family is distressed, but they are not losing hope.

Doctors say Tavernier’s Zane Wampler has multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), a disease associated with having COVID-19.

It is a serious condition that affects parts of the body, such as the blood vessels and the heart.

“What we do know is that it affects children, usually within a week or two after exposure or after having a COVID infection,” said Dr. Keith Meyer of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. “Most of the children will present gastrointestinal manifestations. They may have diarrhea, they may have abdominal pain. “

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers don’t know what causes MIS-C. It is a condition in which different parts of the body can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

Her mother Leah said it started last week when Zane became violently ill. “She woke up and had a high fever.” She said he was also nauseous. “I gave him some Tylenol, and an hour later (his fever) rose to 105.1 F. I took him to the hospital and they ended up sending us home,” he said.

After days without improvement, seizures, and delusions, Wampler said the family then took Zane to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

“I was convulsing. We had to put cloths all over his body. It started to swell everywhere and it looked like it had two black eyes, ”Wampler said.

Zane tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, but his mother said that no one in the family had been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

“I was asymptomatic,” Leah said.

The CDC reports that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19. According to the CDC, MIS-C can be serious, even fatal, but most children who are diagnosed with the condition get better with medical care.

At one point, Zane needed to be hooked up to a ventilator and he had been without oxygen. Your son is improving, but he is not out of the woods yet.

“At the beginning of this, they said it would not affect the children. We are in this great conversation about schools and other things right now. Is very real. “

In Miami-Dade, 301 COVID-19 cases and 218 COVID-19 cases in Broward County were counted on Friday in patients 18 years of age and younger.

Doctors at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital said it is very common for children to have COVID-19, but to have no symptoms.

When to Seek Emergency Care

According to the CDC, seek emergency care immediately if your child displays any of these MIS-C emergency warning signs or other related signs:

• Difficulty breathing
• Pain or pressure in the chest that does not go away.
• New confusion
• Inability to wake up or stay awake
• Bluish lips or face
• Severe abdominal pain

Learn more about MIS-C and how to detect it.

(Michelle Solomon of Local 10.com contributed to this story.)