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Child Dies From Rare COVID-19-Related Disease in the US
(Agence France-Presse) – May 9, 2020 – 10:00 a.m.
NEW YORK, United States – A five-year-old boy in New York State died of a rare inflammatory disease believed to be caused by the new coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
“73 cases have been reported in NY (state) of children who become seriously ill with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.”
“On Thursday, a 5-year-old boy died of these complications, believed to be caused by COVID-19,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter.
He added that the state health department was investigating and asked parents to seek medical attention immediately if their son had a fever that lasted more than five days.
Other symptoms include diarrhea or vomiting, shortness of breath, pale skin color, chest pain and lethargy, Cuomo said.
Kawasaki disease is a mysterious disease that primarily affects children up to the age of five and causes inflammation of the artery walls, leading to fever, peeling skin, and joint pain.
A rash and swollen glands can also be a sign, and if untreated patients may suffer health failures, but those receiving medical care respond well.
Britain’s National Health Service sounded the alarm last month, warning of a small increase in children infected with the coronavirus who have “overlapping characteristics of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease.”
France, Italy and Spain have also reported several cases.
Treatment for Kawasaki disease involves intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin, and while it is terrifying, most recover without serious problems.
While a link to the new coronavirus has not been formally established, scientists believe it could be connected.
In an article published this week in the medical journal The Lancet, British doctors describing eight cases seen in London said it could be “a new phenomenon” affecting previously asymptomatic children with the coronavirus “manifesting as a hyperinflammatory syndrome” .
While young people can become infected with the new coronavirus, very few have died or have severe symptoms, something that had comforted parents in the midst of the deadly pandemic.
Cuomo said any confirmed link between COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease would be a worrying development.
“This would be really painful news and it would open up a whole different chapter,” Cuomo told reporters at his briefing on Friday.
Earlier this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said an increasing number of cases in New York City was causing concern.
Of the first 15 confirmed cases in the Big Apple, four patients tested positive for COVID-19 and six patients tested negative had antibodies, suggesting that they had previously been infected.
New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said some cases had also been identified in Boston and Philadelphia.
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