UK children show heart, stomach complications that can be linked to COVID-19, but not all have tested positive
The new coronavirus never ceases to surprise experts. UK doctors are now observing that some children are increasingly showing an unusual combination of symptoms: heart and stomach complications along with other COVID-19 signs.
These complications, called multi-state inflammatory state, are a result of an overwhelmed immune system fighting off the virus.
But not all of them tested positive for COVID-19, raising questions on whether some children tested negative due to incorrect test results. Experts are, however, not ruling out suspicions on some other disease-causing pathogens.
NHS England issued an alert to doctors in the UK, drawing their attention to the range of symptoms. In a letter, reported by the Health Service Journal, NHS bosses said, “It has been reported that over the last three weeks there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London, and also in other regions of the UK."
More than a dozen children have shown these unusual symptoms. Some reportedly have developed tummy pain, vomiting, or diarrhea - and inflammation of the heart, as well as abnormal blood test results, according to the tweet from the Paediatric Intensive Care Society. All of the children are under intensive care. Doctors, however, warn the condition is striking only a few children.
Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told Independent, ”We already know that a very small number of children can become severely ill with Covid-19 but this is very rare – evidence from throughout the world shows us that children appear to be the part of the population least affected by this infection. New diseases may present in ways that surprise us, and clinicians need to be made aware of any emerging evidence of particular symptoms or of underlying conditions which could make a patient more vulnerable to the virus."
What is a multi-state inflammatory syndrome?
Inflammation is a part of our body's defenses against an invader. But sometimes it goes overboard and affects the whole body. It can shut down the proper functioning of multiple organs and even trigger kidney injury.
Patients with this condition have fluid clogging up their organs and need urgent intensive care to support the heart, lungs, and sometimes other organs such as the kidneys.
The syndrome seems to overlap with other conditions
What is more, most of these children were already suffering from another rare blood condition called Kawasaki Disease. The condition mainly affects children under the age of five.
Children with the disease tend to have inflamed and swollen blood vessels. It can get dangerous if blood vessels supplying blood to the heart gets swollen. Around 25% of children with Kawasaki disease experience complications with their hearts, according to NHS.
They are also showing signs of toxic shock syndrome: an illness associated with bacterial infections. Children with the condition have a high temperature, low blood pressure, headache, a rash, and difficulty breathing, and the like.
According to Dr Nazima Pathan, a consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care in Cambridge, children are presenting similar signs in Spain and Italy too. "Some of the children have presented with a septic shock type illness and rashes - the kind of presentation we would expect to see in toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease," she told BBC.