Reports of rare autoimmune complications on children who contracted COVID-19 are rising in Europe and the United States, an inflammation syndrome that causes patients to feel like “every blood vessel in the body is on fire.”
Doctors advised parents to be vigilant yet more studies are yet to be conducted to study if these symptoms were caused by the virus, AFP reported.
Britain’s National Health Service was the first to warn about a small rise in children diagnosed with the respiratory disease that have “overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease.”
“All of the pediatricians and critical care medics are working together to see whether it’s connected to COVID-19,” France’s health minister Olivier Veran told reporters.
Dr. Sunni Sood of Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York told AFP that he along with his colleagues had encountered such cases in the last three weeks.
“We’ve all been wondering why these somewhat older children, older than usually seen with Kawasaki disease, are coming in,” he said.
Kawasaki disease is an illness that primarily affects children up to the age of five and causes the blood vessels to become inflamed, resulting in fever, skin peeling and joint pain.
Such cases account for 20 children with more cases discovered elsewhere, according to Damien Bonnet, head of pediatric cardiology at Necker Hospital.
Boonet said his patients, who range in age from two to 18, have shown a range of “symptoms, including gastrointestinal, respiratory” and heart problems.
Other cases are manifesting sudden drop of blood pressure, or shock, sudden decrease in heart muscle function, also known as myocarditis.
“The way we would explain it to parents is every blood vessel in the body is on fire,” Sood said.
Meanwhile, Sood bared that some patients are suffering from “toxic shock syndrome,” another rare disease seen as a complication of bacterial infection.
While these incidents are frightening, experts said there is no need to panic as there is no solid proof that the virus is causing rare illnesses.
Experts explained that Kawasaki disease appears to rise during spring and fall, for reasons that remain a mystery.
Furthermore, they added that it could be a coincidence that some cases also have COVID-19.
“We are living in the COVID-19 epidemic, and we see an infrequent disease becoming more frequent. That raises questions,” Bonnet stressed.
Scientists are also suspecting the possibility that the virus triggers the immune reaction.
“It could well be that this virus drives the same inflammatory response that other viruses drive in Kawasaki disease,” Sood said.
Sood advised parents not to panic and to be alert for the symptoms of infection.
“Even if you think, ‘My child’s never been exposed, it’s not possible,’ we’re seeing children with atypical manifestations of infection,” he bared.
“They should seek medical attention, preferably at a pediatric emergency room, wherever they are.”
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