AUSTIN, Texas — An inflammatory response illness in children could be linked to the coronavirus.
"The vast majority of children are going to [be], if they get infected [with coronavirus], either mildly sick or going to be healthy," Dr. Sarmistha Hauger, the chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Dell Children's Medical Center, said. "The vast majority of children, when this type of thing happens, it is not subtle."
Dr. Hauger said the "inflammatory response kind of illness" is similar to Kawasaki disease. She said some kids seem to be more at-risk than others.
"The majority of them have some other medical problem," Dr. Hauger said. "It's what we call medically-complex children. That's children that may have other problems with their respiratory issues, cardiac issues, tracheotomy, needing ventilators at home. Someone that is quite vulnerable."
Dr. Hauger said symptoms include prolonged high fever, difficulty breathing, weakness, and could have a rash, red lips or eyes or even swollen hands.
She said some of the kids showing these symptoms have had coronavirus, but others have not. Dr. Hauger said doctors haven't determined if the illness is directly because of coronavirus.
"So the causal link is not there. But the association is intriguing enough and the kids are sick enough and our knowledge is lacking enough that we now need to know when children are presenting like this so we can kind of go back and compare to, say, 'Are they different from the children that present with usual Kawasaki disease or toxic shock, or is there something unique about them?'" Dr. Hauger said.
She said doctors are waiting on guidance from the CDC. However, she said doctors do know how to stabilize a patient who has toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease, explaining she thinks the CDC guidance will involve what particular lab parameters doctors need to look for.
She said the message to parents has now changed if they notice their child presenting symptoms of the inflammatory illness.
"We've been trying to keep people out of doctors' offices and emergency rooms saying, 'Please, if you're mildly ill, stay home,'" Dr. Hauger said. "This is not a mild illness, and when that happens, I think that parents should seek care from their primary care or their local emergency room."
She encouraged parents to keep up with their children's scheduled vaccinations and well-child check-ups.
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