Does your child have MIS-C, COVID-19 or Kawasaki disease?

Exposure to SARS-Co-V2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may put otherwise healthy children and adolescents at risk for pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Inflammation of organs such as the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal system.

With the diagnosis of MIS-C, which has affected 2,600 children since May 2020 and is known to occur in SARS-Co-V2-positive or exposed children with COVID-19. Treatment is difficult. Similar to severe COVID-19. Other features of MIS-C are very similar to Kawasaki disease, Causes inflammation of blood vessels.

Stephen Howitz, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical College, and author of a recently published study Journal of American Medical AssociationInvestigated symptoms that may have been caused by any of these disorders in 1,116 people under the age of 21 who were hospitalized from March to October 2020, and compared clinical and test results. We have decided how to diagnose MIS-C more accurately.

What is MIS-C? Why is it difficult to diagnose?

MIS-C is a new phenomenon in pediatrics. It occurs in connection with SARS-CoV-2 infection, but in asymptomatic children with the viral disease COVID-19, symptoms can be delayed by several weeks. Complicating the diagnosis is that the symptoms of MIS-C are similar to those of Kawasaki disease. Kawasaki disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children.

Symptoms are similar, but potential complications, treatments, and outcomes may vary. Better distinction between these conditions will improve treatment and follow-up care.

How is MIS-C similar to severe COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease?

In general, children with MIS-C are more likely to get sick than children with acute COVID-19 because they involve more organs.Children with acute COVID-19 may exhibit respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms directly related to the virus, but MIS-C Inflammatory reaction For infections that occur weeks later and may resemble COVID-19. In our study, 80% of children with MIS-C and COVID-19 each had severe respiratory symptoms, but many children with MIS-C had heart problems, rashes and eyes. It involved multiple organs, including mucosal conditions such as redness, and as a result, symptoms similar to those of patients with Kawasaki disease appeared.

Compared to COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease, MIS-C is more likely to affect Hispanic / Latin or black children. It is more likely to affect children without underlying illness. It is more likely to affect people between the ages of 6 and 12. Gastrointestinal symptoms From Kawasaki disease.

Both Kawasaki disease and MIS-C occur more often in boys, but Kawasaki disease mainly affects children of East Asian descent and affects infants between the ages of 2 and 3 years.

How does this study inform treatment?

What we have learned will help improve the way MIS-C is diagnosed and treated. For example, children with COVID-19 or MIS-C can benefit from anti-inflammatory treatments such as steroids, while children with MIS-C can further benefit from other treatment options such as intravenous immunoglobulin. I can. These patients should also follow up with a cardiologist to check for changes in cardiac function, cardiac arrhythmias, or coronary artery disease.

What should parents know?

I have children, so I understand how nervous my parents are about this new syndrome. If your child develops a number of symptoms, such as persistent fever, rash, or abnormal malaise, have your child evaluated by a healthcare professional to rule out MIS-C. MIS-C is in a serious condition, but most of the time Children It usually recovers within 30 days, including those with severe heart symptoms.