SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – An alarming number of children are being rushed to Rady Children’s Hospital for “MIS-C,” a respiratory disease resulting from COVID-19.
While the coronavirus pandemic has dominated headlines, paediatricians worldwide are seeing a spike in another dangerous trend.
“We are currently in the midst of the ‘MIS-C’ epidemic,” said Dr. Adriana Tremoulet, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Physician at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“MIS-C” stands for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. It is an inflammatory response to COVID-19, which mainly affects school-aged children who received COVID themselves two to six weeks earlier or who were exposed to someone with COVID in the household.
“Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, red eyes, red lips, rashes all over the body, the hands and feet can have a rash or even bright red,” said Dr. Tremoulet.
Dr. Tremoulet says there have been 57 cases of “MIS-C” at Rady Children’s Hospital since April last year. But a majority of the patients were seen in the past two months. In terms of timing, she says it matches exactly two to six weeks after the holiday COVID spike in adults.
“The heart itself is affected. So the heart is a pump, and it doesn’t pump well in many of these children,” said Dr. Tremoulet.
Children spend an average of five to nine days at Rady Children’s Hospital, and many require care in the ICU. Doctors treat patients with generous doses of anti-inflammatory drugs and, in some cases, steroids.
Dr. Tremoulet says “MIS-C” primarily affects Latino and African American children. But it is not known if this is because there is a higher COVID rate among this demographic or a genetic predisposition.
“Latin America sees a lot of Latino children with ‘MIS-C’, but they also see a lot of COVID. While countries in Asia have less COVID, of course, but they don’t see ‘MIS- Not at all,’ said Dr. Tremoulet.
Dr. Tremoulet asks parents to be extra vigilant if they have been or have been exposed to COVID in recent weeks.
“As a parent, if you know your child is sick more often than usual, use that barometer and seek medical attention,” said Dr. Tremoulet.
The youngest “MIS-C” patient at Rady Children’s Hospital was two years old and the oldest still in his teens. But there have been cases nationwide where “MIS-C” presents itself in young adults.
The mortality rate of “MIS-C” is 3 to 5%. Fortunately, there were no deaths at Rady Children’s Hospital.