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When COVID-19 first made its way to the United States, doctors initially believed it would only target the elderly and those with a compromised immune system. However, as the virus evolved, dozens of patients under the age of 21 began reporting symptoms of a new inflammatory illness.
The symptoms officials have been seeing are similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome.
"Pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome (PMIS) is a new health condition appearing in children," officials said. "Some doctors think the condition is related to having COVID-19, but the connection is still not clear.”
Predominant symptoms of the COVID-19-related illness, according to the Department of Health, include:
- Prolonged fever of more than five days;
- Severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, or vomiting;
- Bloodshot eyes;
- Skin rash.
- Other symptoms include:
- Change in skin color - becoming pale, patchy, and/or blue;
- Difficulty feeding (infants) or is too sick to drink fluids;
- Trouble breathing or is breathing very quickly;
- Racing heart or chest pain;
- Lethargy, irritability, or confusion.
Scientists recently studied 17 patients under the age of 21 who were hospitalized at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City between Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, May 5.
The patients included 8 boys and 9 girls who had a median age of 8 years old, most of whom were previously healthy, though three had mild asthma. Each of the patients suffered fevers, with 14 showing gastrointestinal symptoms. Of the patients, the study found that 14 had abnormal chest x-rays.
By Wednesday, May 20, after an average hospital stay of seven days, each of the patients being studied was discharged, with no COVID-19-related fatalities reported.
“We were told early on that children were not affected by COVID, but now we’re starting to see that children who test positive for COVID or COVID antibodies are developing these inflammatory symptoms,” officials said. “So now after one week … two weeks … three weeks … these children start experiencing these new symptoms.
“In some ways, this inflammatory syndrome is more frightening than the COVID respiratory illness, because of the way it inflames the heart,” they noted. “We don’t know how widespread it is, but the more we look, the more we find it."
The complete details from the study can be found here.
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