Some Covid-19 positive children in the United States have demonstrated a serious condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome after contracting the infection, as per media reports.
Earlier studies have shown that Covid-19 positive children develop little or no symptoms of the virus after infection. “But in children who go on to develop MIS-C, some organs and tissues — such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, brain, skin or eyes — become severely inflamed,” warned health body Mayo Clinic.
The recent development prompted the researchers at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine to investigate the matter.
They examined 35 children between April 1 to July 14, who met the criteria for the mysterious inflammatory syndrome. The medics reported how symptoms can also be “mucocutaneous”; defined as those that affect “body orifices”, like nostrils.
The researchers observed that the young subjects had swollen eyes, flushed cheeks, and a “strawberry tongue.”
Around, 25 of the youngsters, who had an average age of three, met the criteria for the syndrome – aged 21 or under, with a fever, “laboratory evidence of inflammation” and severe illness requiring hospitalisation, according to the Express report. The syndrome was also defined as affecting “at least two organ systems, with “no alternative plausible diagnosis.” The remaining 10 participants, average age one, were “probable cases,” added the researchers.
The New York medics also mentioned that “significant clinical overlap exists” between Kawasaki and the coronavirus-triggered inflammatory syndrome.
Kawasaki disease is a rare condition that occurs in toddlers under five. It causes blood vessels to become inflamed.
After the coronavirus, 29 children tested positive for the coronavirus. Of the 35 patients, 29 (83 per cent) endured “mucocutaneous changes”. The most common was bloodshot eyes, which affected 21 of the children. 18 children developed red palms, while 17 had “lip hyperemia”; defined as an increase in blood flow that may trigger redness or heat.
Strawberry tongue – when it is swollen, bumpy, and bright red – affected eight of the patients.
Seven of the children endured red, swollen eyes, while six developed flushed cheeks, added the researchers.