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Dozens of children in the UK, the United States and other parts of Europe have been affected by a rare coronavirus-related inflammatory disease, including a 14-year-old boy who died in London in April.
The teenager was part of a group of eight cases seen at Evelina London Children’s Hospital over a 10-day period last month.
In Bergamo, the worst-hit city in Italy, last month there was a “30-fold higher incidence” of Kawasaki-like illness in children at Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII, a study found in The Lancet.
At the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo there was a 3000% increase in children with Kawasaki-like disease in one month
Italian researchers concluded that COVID-19 “It could cause a serious form of Kawasaki-like illness.”
As of last week, the London hospital has seen more than 20 children with the Kawasaki-like disease, according to a report by the medical team at The Lancet.
The 14-year-old boy spent six days in intensive care at Evelina and tested positive for COVID-19 after his death, his medical team reported.
His main symptoms upon admission to the hospital were a temperature above 40 ° C, diarrhea, abdominal pain and headache.
The youngest child in the Evelina treated group was four years old and two others were six.
Two of the children in the group, including the boy who died, were obese.
The report said: “All the children were in good shape and well. Six of the children were of Afro-Caribbean descent, and five of the children were children.”
Doctors said all the children had similar symptoms when admitted, including “constant fever,” “variable rash,” conjunctivitis, bloating, pain, and “significant gastrointestinal symptoms.”
Most of the children had no significant respiratory symptoms during their hospital stay, although seven were placed on a ventilator to stabilize their cardiovascular systems.
All the children survived except the 14 year old.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last month that experts are investigating the new syndrome in children “with great urgency,” but has emphasized that it is rare.
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In Bergamo, the other study found that 10 boys, seven boys and three girls, with an average age of seven and a half years, had been diagnosed between February 18 and April 20.
The study found that children diagnosed after the COVID-19 pandemic began were older (previously approximately three years old) had a higher rate of cardiac involvement and features of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), a systemic inflammatory response. which can reach every organ in the body.
Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that three children died from the disease, and health officials reviewed 73 other cases.
The condition is said to be similar to Kawasaki disease, primarily affecting children under the age of five, with symptoms including high temperature, rashes, swelling, and a toxic shock-style response.
The doctors who investigated the London cases wrote: “We suggest that this clinical picture represents a new phenomenon affecting previously asymptomatic children with COVID-19 infection that manifests as a hyperinflammatory syndrome with multiorgan involvement similar to the shock syndrome of the disease. from Kawasaki. “
The team said multiple specialists were needed for any child with the syndrome, including intensive care, cardiology, infectious disease, immunology and rheumatology.
