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Fifteen children have been hospitalized in New York with a rare inflammatory disease possibly related to the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, in the latest reports of the worrisome syndrome.
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.
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 has also reported several cases.
Although terrifying, most recover without serious problems.
The New York government health department said it had identified 15 cases of children ages 2 to 15 who had symptoms of Kawasaki disease.
“That is sure enough [to say] we are concerned, “Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.
Four of the patients tested positive for COVID-19, the health department said in a statement.
Six of the ten who tested negative had antibodies, suggesting that they had previously been infected with COVID-19.
More than half of the patients needed blood pressure support and five required mechanical ventilation, but no deaths were reported among the cases, the department said.
Respiratory symptoms were reported in less than half of the patients, he said. All experienced fever and more than half reported a rash, abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea.
New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said some cases had also been identified in Boston and Philadelphia.
“We are still not sure what to do with this. We are still learning every day about how COVID-19 behaves,” he said.
Treatment for Kawasaki disease involves intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin, Barbot added.
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