COVID-19 may be tied to rare syndrome in children, UK doctors warn

Access to children's playground equipment is taped off on March 30, 2020 in Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, amid the coronavirus pandemic..
Access to children's playground equipment is taped off on March 30, 2020 in Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Image credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Children have been thought to be largely spared from the worst of the new coronavirus, but doctors in the U.K. are now warning of a possible connection between COVID-19 and an unusual inflammatory syndrome in children. 

However, experts stress that serious illness related to COVID-19 in children is still very rare overall.

The warning came over the weekend, when the National Health Service (NHS) England issued an alert notifying doctors of a small but growing number of cases of "multisystem inflammatory" disease in children that required intensive care, according to the U.K. Paediatric Intensive Care Society. Some of these children have tested positive for COVID-19, although others have not.

The alert noted that these cases showed symptoms similar to those found in two rare conditions: toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease. Toxic shock syndrome is a life-threatening condition that's caused by toxins produced by certain types of bacteria; Kawasaki disease is a childhood illness that causes inflammation in blood vessel walls, and in serious cases can cause heart damage.

Some of the symptoms in the U.K. cases included fevers, severe abdominal pain and skin rashes, along with markers of severe inflammation in the blood, The Guardian reported. Some of these children have also needed treatment for heart inflammation.

So far, the inflammatory syndrome appears rare — only about a dozen children in the U.K. have been reported to have the syndrome, according to The Guardian. 

Similar cases have also been reported in Spain and Italy, according to CNN. And in the United States, doctors at Stanford University recently published a case report in the journal Pediatrics describing a 6-month-old infant who was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease and COVID-19.

A connection between Kawasaki disease and COVID-19 wouldn't necessarily be surprising, said Dr. Courtney Gidengil, a senior physician policy researcher at RAND Corp. and a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Boston, who is not involved with the U.K. cases. The cause of Kawasaki disease isn't known, but one of the leading theories is that it may be triggered by infections with common viruses, she said.

"It wouldn't be totally surprising if COVID might do the same thing" in terms of triggering the disorder, Gidengil told Live Science. She also noted that, although we're learning more about COVID-19 every day, it seems like one of the hallmarks of the disease is inflammation, including a "cytokine storm," or an aggressive immune system reaction that can damage the body's organs. This feature would also fit with NHS England's description of the inflammatory syndrome as cases involving uncontrolled inflammation.

However, it's still too early to say that COVID-19 is behind this inflammatory syndrome in children, Gidengil said. More data will be needed to show this. Indeed, the NHS alert noted the possibility that another, yet-to-be-identified pagothen is associated with the inflammatory syndrome. 

Still, "it's great that they're raising an alarm about this so people can be aware," Gidengil said.

Although this news might sound worrisome to parents, reports of serious COVID-19 complications remain uncommon in children. "It's really important to just keep in mind that it's still really rare for kids to have complications from COVID at this point," Gidengil said.

Originally published on Live Science.  

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Rachael Rettner
Contributor

Rachael is a Live Science contributor, and was a former channel editor and senior writer for Live Science between 2010 and 2022. She has a master's degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a B.S. in molecular biology and an M.S. in biology from the University of California, San Diego. Her work has appeared in Scienceline, The Washington Post and Scientific American.

  • ty2010
    Wow, autoimmune syndromes that skyrocket after mass vaccinations but now narrowed to subsequent infections that trigger them because it's politically advantageous, okay.
    Reply
  • cecilia fx
    ty2010 said:
    Wow, autoimmune syndromes that skyrocket after mass vaccinations but now narrowed to subsequent infections that trigger them because it's politically advantageous, okay.
    there's no vaccine for the Corina Virus
    Reply
  • ty2010
    Not what was implied, vaccinations by method alone mess up IgA, G and M ratios tilting towards autoimmune, adjuvants do this directly by over-sensitizing, the slightest inflammations become a targets.
    Reply
  • DBlack313
    ty2010 said:
    Not what was implied, vaccinations by method alone mess up IgA, G and M ratios tilting towards autoimmune, adjuvants do this directly by over-sensitizing, the slightest inflammations become a targets.

    Autoimmune disorders also cluster in families, and affect women disproportionately. If autoimmune diseases were caused by mass vaccinations, you would expect to see a more even distribution throughout the population. But hey, I guess some would rather risk dying from measles/polio/cholera than trusting medical science.
    Reply
  • vcjob
    admin said:
    Doctors in the U.K. are now warning of a possible connection between COVID-19 and an unusual inflammatory syndrome in children.

    COVID-19 may be tied to rare syndrome in children, UK doctors warn : Read more
    My 9 year old son has displayed the symptoms here.. it's so scary to see your child complain of chest pain (apparently there are gastro/abdominal/chest 'cardiac' inflammation) among other symptoms. He also had tickle sore throat, rash on tummy and thighs, swelling of upper lip - all a severe inflammatory response to whatever the cause I will never know!
    He is a healthy boy, takes vit D3 high dose, zinc min 12mg a day with his multivitamin supplement.
    I am baffled! :/ had called 111, as I knew swelling and skin rash-hives are inflammatory I gave him antihistamine and the symptoms subsided for a space of hours. The heart and throat issues is what I found to be worrying , otherwise I would have just left it to allergic reaction. Now I have investigated... it wasn't. His body I believe was responding to something that I will not know. By the way his penis too had inflamed 'ballooned at it's shaft'.
    Parent be aware and informed.
    Reply