apnews | Dozens of U.S.
children have been hospitalized with a serious inflammatory condition
possibly linked with the coronavirus and first seen in Europe.
New York authorities announced Wednesday that 64 potential cases had been reported to the state. The advisory followed an alert earlier this week about 15 cases in New York City.
A
few other U.S. children have been affected during the pandemic,
including a 6-month-old infant in California diagnosed with COVID-19 and
Kawasaki disease, a rare condition that causes swelling in blood
vessels.
Fever, abdominal
pain and skin rashes are common symptoms, while some New York children
have developed heart inflammation requiring intensive care. Most had
evidence of current or past coronavirus infections.
Medical groups in Britain, Italy and Spain warned doctors last month to look out for the condition.
Some
doctors say the New York cases increase the likelihood that the
syndrome is a rare complication of COVID-19 although that remains to be
proven.
“It
raises our antenna a bit and tells is we need to be vigilant about
unusual and more severe complications of COVID-19” in children, said Dr.
Larry Kociolek, an infectious disease specialist at Lurie Children’s
Hospital in Chicago.
