The director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Jane Burns said that a new syndrome is seen in some children who have developed the Kawasaki-like complication after having contracted the coronavirus.
A New Syndrome was Found
She said that it is completely different from what they have seen previously because in this case, the immune system is attacking the heart, causing heart failure. In Kawasaki disease, the coronary arteries are swelling.
No one has reported yet how many children are having this symptom. As reported by the doctors at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, they found three cases with children ages 6 months to 8 years.
During a news conference on Thursday, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said that most of the cases they encounter are children having an inflammation of the blood vessels and those that are developing toxic shock syndrome. Since only a few of the patients tested positive for the coronavirus even if they were exposed to infected family members, they could not conclude yet that the new type of inflammation is related to COVID-19.
Many Children Had Kawasaki Disease After Contracting COVID-19
Recent reports showed that there are quite a handful of kids who had an inflammation of the heart and other organs, which is known as the Kawasaki disease, which is a rare condition that causes swelling of the coronary arteries more commonly found in children.
The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Transplant Network is working with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and other major hospitals in the country to collect data on the kids that have COVID-19.
There is no foundation as to why children seem to be safe from the virus. It could be because they do not suffer from chronic illnesses such as diabetes, or high blood pressure, which are mostly seen in adult patients.
Burns said that they have been contacting the different health professionals regarding the issue to find out if there are similar cases from the different parts of the globe. The World Health Organization is urgently studying the relationship between the two diseases.
Most of the COVID-19 cases they encounter in the US are adults, and only two percent of the children tested positive. The pediatric infectious disease specialists have observed that coronavirus is rare in children, even in other countries such as China, Italy, and in other parts of Europe.
The highest number of complications and mortality rates are mostly coming from people older than 65 years of age.
According to the director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Dr. Buddy Creech said that they have observed mild symptoms in children which tempts them to hypothesize that kids are not counted as a spreader of the virus, seeing that they have fewer symptoms and shorten the duration of infection.
The only good news about it is that these children could also be positive for the virus for a shorter period thereby limiting the chances of them shedding the coronavirus from their nose or throat.
