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New York, May 9
In a worrying development, a five-year-old boy died in New York of a rare inflammatory disease related to the coronavirus, while the death of another seven-year-old boy is being investigated for possible links to the mysterious pediatric syndrome.
The New York State Department of Health is investigating several cases of serious illness in children and infant deaths that may be related to the serious inflammatory disease called “Pediatric Multi-Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome Associated with COVID-19”.
There have been 73 reported cases in New York where children experience symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome, possibly due to COVID-19.
On Thursday, a 5-year-old boy died in New York City of these COVID-related complications, Cuomo said.
Westchester County authorities in upstate New York say a 7-year-old boy died late last week at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla.
Michael Gewitz, chief physician at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, where the boy died, said the boy suffered “serious neurological complications” due to pediatric multiple symptom inflammatory syndrome.
Authorities are investigating the boy’s death to see if it is related to the syndrome.
“So this is every parent’s nightmare, right? That their child may be affected by this virus. But it is something that we must seriously consider now,” Cuomo said.
The Governor said that much is still known about COVID-19, “and we were initially led to believe that the good news about this virus was that it did not affect children.”
“Now we have a new problem that we are looking at in which some children affected with the COVID-19 virus become ill with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic shock syndrome.” This would be really painful news and would open a completely different chapter in our fight against this virus, ”he said.
The State Department of Health issued a notice about the severe inflammatory disease. Parents have been advised to seek immediate attention if a child has a prolonged fever (more than five days), difficulty feeding (in babies), or is too ill to drink fluids, severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting, change in color of the skin, shortness of breath, lethargy, irritability, or confusion.
Gewitz added that while large numbers of children could become infected with COVID-19, “most of whom, at least many, are completely asymptomatic. This particular complication is relatively rare, unusual, “he said, referring to the rare pediatric syndrome.
New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said that with each passing day “we are learning more about this terrible virus, and this potentially new development requires even greater understanding.” We will dedicate the department’s resources to investigate each potential case and share our findings with healthcare providers across the state and country. ”
Dr. Dial Hewlett of the Westchester County Health Department told reporters that in cases where children are reported to have the syndrome, someone in the home had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“And we know that in some of the homes, the parents or grandparents or others were diagnosed with COVID and were actually positive, and apparently the children did not develop symptoms until two or four days before coming to the hospital for treatment,” he said. .
Westchester County Executive George Latimer added, “This is very serious. The disease can be fatal, and we want to make sure that everyone in Westchester County is on the lookout for symptoms that can lead to this. ”
Although the majority of children receiving COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms, in the UK, a possible link between pediatric COVID-19 and severe inflammatory disease has also been reported. The inflammatory syndrome has characteristics that overlap with Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome and can occur days to weeks after acute COVID-19 disease. It can include persistent fever, abdominal symptoms, skin rash, and even cardiovascular symptoms that require intensive care.
Authorities said early recognition by pediatricians and a referral to a specialist, including critical care, are essential.
Earlier this week, the New York City Department of Health said 15 children ages 2 to 15 had been hospitalized from April 17 to May 1 with Kawasaki disease or characteristics of toxic shock. Of the 15 children, four had tested positive for COVID-19. More than half of the reported patients required blood pressure and five required mechanical ventilation.
The syndrome has received increasing attention in recent weeks as cases began to appear in European countries affected by the coronavirus.
“There are some recent rare descriptions of children in some European countries who have had this inflammatory syndrome, which is similar to Kawasaki syndrome, but appears to be very rare,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a scientist at the World Health Organization. Informational summary last week. PTI
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