Rare 'life-threatening' syndrome linked to coronavirus infects 300 kids in US: Study

As many as 300 children in the US have been infected with a rare, life-threatening syndrome associated with the novel coronavirus. According to studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have not only established the link of the inflammatory condition to the coronavirus but have also found that the rare disease known as the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was on the rise in the US, according to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) state-wide surveillance data accumulated from the hospitalized adolescents.  

As per two separate studies published on June 29 by the COVID-19 Investigators and the US Centre for Disease Control COVID-19 Response Team, targeted surveillance for MIS-C from March 15 to May 20, 2020, in pediatric health centers across the United States revealed that MIS-C syndrome was a serious illness that has impacted adolescents less than 21 years of age leading to hospitalizations. Researchers said in the study that the symptoms observed were “fever that lasted for at least 24 hours, laboratory evidence of inflammation, multisystem organ involvement, and evidence of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) based on reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)”.  

Further, the summarized the clinical presentation, complications, and outcomes of patients stated that a total of 300 children, out of which, 191 potential cases in New York have already been reported to the NYSDOH. Researchers established that the COVID-19 related hyperinflammatory syndrome was also associated with cardiac dysfunction.” Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease, including fever, rashes, swollen glands, and, in severe cases, heart inflammation,” the study confirmed in conclusion to the results, as it ascertained the disease’s emergence in the US.  

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"Consistent picture" of syndrome emerging

Professor of pediatrics and international child health at Imperial College London, said in an accompanying editorial, that a consistent picture of the serious syndrome was emerging that was observed to occur following two to four weeks after children contracted the novel coronavirus. “There is a concern that children meeting current diagnostic criteria for MIS-C are the 'tip of the iceberg' and a bigger problem may be lurking below the waterline," Levin wrote in the editorial.  

Of 234 patients admitted to 53 participating hospitals, 21 whose conditions did not meet the case definition were excluded, while 27 were included in the New York State Department of Health report. The majority of patients, at least 131 out of the total, approximately 70 percent tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.  

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