An urgent alert has been issued to Doctors across the UK following an increase in hospital admissions among children over the last three weeks.
The alert said, in the “last three weeks, there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the UK”.
“There is a growing concern that a [covid-19] related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.
"The cases have in common overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki Disease with blood parameters consistent with severe COrVID-19 in children.
“Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation. This has been observed in children with confirmed PCR positive SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as children who are PCR negative. Serological evidence of possible preceding SARS-CoV-2 infection has also been observed.”
The syndrome has the characteristics of serious Covid-19. Some of the children have tested positive for Covid-19, and some appear to have had the virus in the past, but some have not.
It continues to be the case that fewer children than adults have had serious illness with Coronavirus.
