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Shouldn’t grandparents hug their grandchildren? Just a week ago, Daniel Koch (65) of the Federal Office of Public Health announced that young children would hardly be infected with Covid and that the virus would not be transmitted (BLICK reported). Pediatricians in several European countries now observe the accumulation of a serious inflammatory disease, the so-called Kawasaki syndrome. And this in relation to a crown infection. Swiss pediatricians are also alarmed.
“Until April 21, I would have shared Daniel Koch’s opinion because the official number of cases of infected children was really low. The virus seemed to spread mainly from adult to child, “says Geneva clinic pediatrician Grangettes Alessandro Diana (50),” but then we had these unusual cases. “Three children (11, 12, and 13) came into practice with pain. severe abdominal Diagnosis in a child: Kawasaki syndrome.
The children had antibodies against Covid
The crown smear in all children was negative. “When typical crown symptoms got worse and worse, we tested them again, this time for antibodies. All the children had the coronavirus ”, says the pediatrician and professor at the University of Geneva. Her patients are still in the hospital with serious illnesses. Two other teens from Diana’s Geneva practice were also negative initially, but later tested positive for Corona on the blood test.
Many symptoms, such as those of Kawasaki syndrome, would not be associated with the crown. If the tests still fail, children infected with a crown could fall through the mesh, the infectiologist fears. “We urgently need a network of Swiss pediatricians to observe these phenomena,” says Diana.
Kawasaki syndrome is complicated. High fever, diarrhea, stomach pain, rapid breathing, rash, pink eye, chapped lips, swollen hands and feet. In the worst case, inflammation of the vessels can lead to heart problems and, if left untreated, even death.
The disease mainly affects children under the age of five. With a timely diagnosis, Kawasaki syndrome can be successfully combated with antibody therapy. And: the disease is very rare. The number of cases per year can be counted on the fingers of the hand. The syndrome takes its name from Japanese pediatrician Tomisaku Kawasaki, who first diagnosed the disease in children in 1967.
Child in Ticino with Corona and Kawasaki syndrome
A case of Corona with Kawasaki syndrome also appears in Ticino. This time a little boy. “A family member had Covid symptoms, so we took a sample from the child; the child was infected,” says pediatrician and infectiologist Lisa Kottanattu (38) at the Cantonal Hospital in Bellinzona TI, “the disease was normal ” The boy could soon go home.
Kawasaki syndrome generally affects mainly young children. But now school-age children are also getting sick. In the worst case, vascular inflammation can lead to heart problems and, if left untreated, even death.
Accumulation of Kawasaki cases in other countries.
Bergamo in Italy generally has a maximum of three children with Kawasaki syndrome per year. However, from mid-March to mid-April 2020, there were twelve cases at the Papa San Giovanni XXIII hospital. Their average age: seven to eight years. Two children ended up in the intensive care unit.
Genoa has informed five Kawasaki patients in the past four weeks. In the Bambino Gesù Roman children’s hospital, 30 children notice frostbite on their feet; and that at spring temperatures. Skin changes that fit Kawasaki syndrome.
British Health Minister concerned
In the UK, the media reports 20 children with Kawasaki syndrome. Its symptoms were similar to those of toxic shock syndrome and an atypical form of rare vascular inflammation. Health Minister Matt Hancock said at a press conference: “I am very concerned.”
“A month ago we received calls from emergency doctors reporting children with severe inflammation of the heart muscle,” says Isabelle Kone Paut, professor of pediatric rheumatology at the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris. Some of them are infected with a crown. She knows of 20 children between the ages of two and ten, just in the French metropolis.
Ten children with Kawasaki syndrome were observed in Madrid and Belgium also reports several cases. It is still unclear how many of Kawasaki’s patients were actually infected with the coronavirus. “The tricky thing about the corona virus is that we face new challenges every day. We have to be careful », says the pediatrician from Geneva, Alessandro Diana.
