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The pediatric consultant and infectious disease specialist at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Professor Karina Butler, said pediatricians have been warned about a syndrome that developed in some children who had contracted Covid-19.
Professor Butler told Morning Ireland on RTÉ radio that “overall” there have been very few cases of Covid-19 in children in Ireland.
“The vast majority of cases we have seen have been very mild, almost to the point of being incidents, but we know that this is not always the case and there are children who can become seriously ill with this virus.”
“We noticed, over the weekend, an alert issued from the United Kingdom, from London, where they notice presentations of a very inflammatory state in rare children, where they have a high fever, red eyes, predominant gastrointestinal symptoms, abdominal pain .
“It is very similar to another syndrome with which we are familiar in pediatrics called Kawasaki syndrome or as what we call toxic shock syndrome and we have alerted all pediatricians to be aware of that.
“Because some of them have been developed in children who have Covid. We don’t know yet whether Covid is the cause or not, but the syndrome has been recognized in children with the virus, “he said.
Returning to normal life after the Covid-19 emergency will be difficult due to the complexity of the virus, Professor Butler warned.
She said we must be sure that everything is in place to deal with possible Covid-19 outbreaks when the restrictions are eased.
We need all things to be in place so that we can safely return to normal. I think it will be a crawl
Professor Butler told RTE Morning Ireland that the changes to the testing criteria will give a better idea of how common the virus is in the community.
“We are in a much better place than we could have been had decisive action not been taken.”
Professor Butler said the safe return to normal will be “a crawl”, warning that the virus is “unique and stealthy.”
She said it has been two months since we first encountered the virus and now there are almost 20,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths.
However, increased testing and rapid contact tracing should help the country live with the virus, he said.
“We need all things to be in place so that we can safely return to normal. I think it will be a trace.
The criteria for Covid-19 testing are being expanded starting Tuesday morning to include more suspected cases of the virus.
People with a recent cough, fever, or shortness of breath can now access a test.
She said increasing the criteria for testing “will give us a general idea of the prevalence of the virus in the community.”
The Irish College of General Practitioners said the increase in testing is welcome.
“As we get closer to next week, where there is hope that the blockade scenario will ease, we have to do a lot more testing and tracing to make sure the country stays above Covid-19 and this pandemic can come to an end. ” “
An announcement on whether or not to lift the restrictions is expected after a special cabinet meeting on Friday.
Additional PA reports
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