Texas Children’s, Children’s Memorial Herman Treats Some of Mysterious Coronavirus Syndromes

Two major children’s hospitals in Houston are treating children with inflammatory syndromes associated with coronavirus, officials from these agencies said Thursday that the first example of a mysterious condition in the region was It is now emerging all over the country.

Officials at the Texas Children’s and Children’s Memorial Herman Hospital said Thursday that multiple patients were suspicious of having or suspected of having the child’s multisystem inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C. This syndrome has emerged as the most serious coronavirus-related threat to children in recent weeks. Previously, children appeared to be at great risk of the virus, causing COVID-19.

“Thankfully, I was ready for this one month ago, when I first heard it from my European colleague,” said Dr. Daniel Penny, Dean of Cardiology, Texas Children. “We were frightened by the outlook for COVID-19 in our children, and we sighed in relief as the number of people infected was so low. We were found to be at risk for MIS-C, but so far. , I’m happy with the case situation. “

Penny said Texas children under the age of 10 are in the process of recovery. Some people became fatal at some point.

A child’s Memorial Harman treated a few patients suspected of having MIS-C, all recovered, a spokeswoman said.

MIS-C is considered very rare, although there are few official numbers at this time, about two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began to recognize it as a coronavirus-related illness. Perception is that cases have begun to emerge in New York City, with almost 100 cases now confirmed, and about 100 more are suspicious cases.

The Texas Department of Health said Thursday that cases reported to authorities did not meet the MIS-C definition, despite the Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth publicly announced four cases on Tuesday. . Penny said he had reported to the CDC cases confirmed by Texas Children’s.

According to Penny, MIS-C is characterized by exaggerated inflammatory reactions, such as autoimmune diseases, where the body, not the virus, attacks tissues. He said it occurs most often after the virus is gone. As a result of testing, Texas Children’s MIS-C discovered that those patients had antibodies to the virus, that is, they had previously had an immune response.

Symptoms include high fever. Rash on chest, back, abdomen; red eyes; swelling and inflammation of mouth, lips, throat; lymph gland enlargement in neck; redness and swelling of limbs, according to statement.

Texas Children’s encourages patients previously treated with COVID-19 to undergo follow-up tests to confirm that they do not have the delay effect that suggests MIS-C. He also issued a statement encouraging parents to call a pediatrician if their child shows MIS-C symptoms.

Pediatricians compare MIS-C to another rare condition called Kawasaki disease. This causes the patient’s blood vessels to become inflamed. The condition usually goes away in a few days to a few weeks, but Penny calls it a serious illness, which is one of the more common causes of acquired heart disease in children.

According to Penny, the main difference between the two diseases is that MIS-C can affect teenagers instead of children under the age of eight, with more abdominal pain than the symptoms seen in Kawasaki. is.

Penny is also a pediatric professor at Baylor College of Medicine, and MIS-C appears to be emerging in the community at least a month after the virus begins to circulate and is diagnosed in adults. He said that genetics probably explains which child develops the condition.