Illustration of a sick child. - Pixabay

A warning to health professionals was issued by US authorities on Thursday concerning a rare, but potentially fatal, inflammatory disease affecting children and possibly linked to Covid-19.

Called multi-inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) by the United States Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, the disease was first reported in late April in the UK. A hundred cases, including at least three deaths, were then reported in New York State.

Symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease

"Healthcare providers who have treated or treated patients under the age of 21 who meet the criteria for (disease) MIS-C should report suspected cases to their local health department," said the US Prevention Centers. (CDC). These criteria are the appearance of symptoms such as fever and inflammation of several organs requiring hospitalization, with the impossibility of establishing a diagnosis, as well as exposure to Covid-19 or confirmation of the disease in the patient. .

Doctors confronted with this disease have observed symptoms similar to those of Kawasaki disease, a vascular syndrome affecting young children, the cause of which remains unknown. According to the CDC, the hypothesis of this disease must be considered "for any infant death with proof of an infection with SARS-CoV-2", the name of the new coronavirus causing the disease Covid-19.

Genetic reasons?

These inflammatory symptoms appear to appear four to six weeks after the child is infected with the virus, when he has already developed antibodies, according to pediatrician Sunil Sood of the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York. . “They had the virus, their bodies fought it. But now there is this delayed and excessive immune response, ”he explained.

Further strengthening the mystery around this disease, no similar case has been reported in children in Asia, including in China where the virus appeared in December. Some argue the possibility of genetic reasons for this, according to Sunil Sood.

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  • Disease
  • Child
  • United States
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • Health
  • World