LM Otero / AP
Kaiden Melton, 12, has her temperature taken during a daycare summer camp in Richardson, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning doctors about a rare but serious condition in children linked with the coronavirus. In an alert issued Thursday, the CDC called the condition multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Fever, abdominal pain and skin rashes are common symptoms of the unnamed condition, which has features similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 | 2 a.m.
When the first cases of COVID-19 started popping up around the United States, the number of infected children was low.
However, there have been recent reports of the connection between the novel coronavirus and pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a potentially deadly inflammatory disease prevalent in children.
“It looks like an inflammatory response, typically a couple of weeks after an infection. They may not have known they were infected with the (COVID-19),” said Dr. Pam Greenspon, president of the Nevada chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Some of the symptoms include prolonged fever, low blood pressure, swollen hands and lymph nodes, bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain and shock-like symptoms.
The symptoms are similar to another illness found in children called Kawasaki disease, a type of vasculitis disease that has adverse effects on the coronary arteries, Greenspon said.
“(Doctors) thought the children looked like they were developing Kawasaki disease in much higher numbers than we would typically see for this time of year,” Greenspon said. “Then they started to make the association that they may have had exposure to coronavirus.”
While little is known about this new inflammatory illness, it’s possible that the antibodies children make to fight COVID-19 are creating this immune reaction, she added.
The number of cases is still small, with about 100 children reported in New York state between ages 3 and 18. Health care officials in 14 other states have reported cases as well, but none in Nevada, Greenspon said. Still, it’s possible that might change in upcoming months.
“Certainly if we’re seeing it in other states, it’s possible we may see cases in Nevada,” she said.
That’s why it’s important for parents who have concerns about symptoms they’re seeing in their children to always reach out to their pediatrician so that they can be evaluated, she said. She also advises parents to make sure children get routine vaccination and wellness checks as stay-at-home orders continue to be lifted.
“There was a decrease in vaccinations in March and April in Nevada, and we think it was people not going to the pediatrician or getting their routine well care,” she said. “Although I think it’s important to be aware of this new manifestation of coronavirus, it’s important that parents also get their routine care.”
How else is the coronavirus affecting children?
Some experts say COVID-19 will have long-lasting effects on children — not on their physical health, rather their psyche.
The full extent is something we won’t know for at least another year or two, said Lisa Durette, director of the UNLV School of Medicine Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship.
“But what we do know can be derived from other significant traumatic events that displace kids from school,” she said, noting the Australian wildfires and Hurricane Katrina as examples.
Durette expects to see higher rates of anxiety and depression in the aftermath of the virus as kids try to adjust back to normal life.
“A pattern we see in younger kids is regressions,” she said. “So being at a 6- or 7-year-old level and then starting to regress a couple years younger than that.”
Some kids may have difficulty separating from their parents once school starts again in the fall.
“Think about it: You have your normal life, you’re a kid going off to school, and then all of the sudden, you’re at home constantly and you’re not doing those activities anymore. Making the transition back again when home was the safe place … now being launched back into the world. That in itself can be a really scary transition.”
To prepare kids for these shifts, Durette said it’s crucial for parents to build in as much resiliency as possible to help them succeed. This includes teaching them different ways to manage stress and acknowledging their own senses of anxiety and stress.
“Equipping them with a vocabulary to express their range of feelings — positive, negative and everything in between,” she said.
Most of all, it’s important for parents to be honest with their children, about the severity of the virus and to not sugarcoat the severity of the virus, she said.
Durette advises parents to visit credible sites like CDC.gov or WHO.int, both of which have handouts and guides to pass on to children of all ages. She also recommends the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, or aacap.org, which has a coronavirus resource center for kids.
