For parents, one of the most reassuring aspects of the coronavirus has been that it largely spares children, only causing mild symptoms. But recent reports of a new life-threatening pediatric inflammatory syndrome are worrying many families. Children in Europe, Britain and now the United States are being hospitalized for this mysterious illness, which can harm kids’ hearts and other organs, often requiring intensive care.
What’s interesting, though, is that most of the children who have gotten sick — even those whose tests indicated prior coronavirus exposure — did not report having a recent respiratory illness. This suggests that these children were either exposed to the coronavirus but didn’t get sick or that they had very mild symptoms, said Dr. George Ofori-Amanfo, the division chief of pediatric critical care medicine at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital.
The pediatric inflammatory syndrome also looks a lot like toxic shock syndrome, which occurs when the body goes into shock because it has been exposed to toxins released during bacterial infections. But Ofori-Amanfo said that none of Mount Sinai’s patients had evidence of a bacterial infection in their body, so it was likely that the pediatric inflammatory syndrome, again, looked similar to toxic shock syndrome but was not actually the same thing.
Many kids with the syndrome — but not all — develop rashes, too. The rashes are red and often appear on the hands, forearms and chest, Ofori-Amanfo said, although they can appear anywhere. They typically turn white when you press on them and then turn red again when you stop. They also usually cover a large area — a child’s entire face, for instance, or a substantial part of their arms or legs. “It’s not like a tiny speck of a rash. It’s pretty diffuse,” Cheung said.
“All our patients have been previously healthy patients, with no underlying illnesses,” Ofori-Amanfo said. Some of the kids who developed the syndrome even had multiple siblings who remained perfectly healthy.
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