Justin Paget | fake pictures
Children diagnosed with pediatric multisystemic inflammatory syndrome Covid-19, or PMIS, can develop new neurological problems without any of the respiratory problems commonly associated with the virus, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers examined 27 children with PMIS Covid-19, who were previously healthy, between March 1 and May 8 at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, England. They found that of the 27 patients, four experienced new neurological symptoms.
Symptoms included impaired brain function, headaches, brain stem and cerebellar problems, muscle weakness, and reduced reflexes. All four patients required admission to the intensive care unit for treatment.
Although the study is small, the researchers say the results show that the coronavirus can also cause neurological damage in children, not just adults, without any of the respiratory symptoms that have become a distinctive indicator of Covid-19.
Neurological problems have been previously reported in adults with the coronavirus. The document cites a different study published in May in the Wiley Online Library that examined 214 coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China. Of those patients, 78 experienced neurological symptoms, including dizziness, headache, impaired consciousness, acute cerebrovascular disease, seizures, and ataxia, which mimics being drunk, with difficulty speaking and tripping.
Researchers in the pediatric study observed changes in the signal of splenium in the corpus callosum area of the brain, or lesions in the brain, in all four patients. Although these findings are not specific to SARS-CoV-2, they said, doctors should consider the virus when diagnosing children with new neurological symptoms.
Furthermore, the scientists emphasized that since respiratory symptoms were rare among PMIS patients, doctors should suspect Covid-19 in children who show new neurological problems without any other symptoms.
In April, health officials first saw an increase in coronavirus cases in children who developed a rare inflammatory condition. The symptoms of PMIS were similar to those of Kawasaki syndrome, which causes inflammation of the heart’s blood vessels and mainly affects children younger than 5 years.
The World Health Organization had announced that it would investigate whether there is a relationship between Covid-19 and inflammatory conditions. Since then, no new symptoms or inflammatory diseases have been reported in children infected with the coronavirus.
Scientists have said that young adults are less likely to become seriously ill than older adults, according to early findings about the virus. However, this new study shows that despite typically mild acute infection, children may be at high risk for a secondary inflammatory syndrome.
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