LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Researchers are investigating whether a mysterious new inflammatory condition which has now been diagnosed in at least three children in Los Angeles is linked to coronavirus.
Nurse Jacqueline Fisher-Lopez brings fresh linens into a COVID-19 patient’s room in the Progressive Care Unit at Sharp Coronado Hospital amidst the coronavirus pandemic on May 7, 2020 in Coronado, Calif. (Getty Images)
Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS) is a condition which displays similar symptoms to Kawasaki disease, a very rare condition among young children in which the blood vessels become inflamed and arteries become abnormally dilated.
PIMS was first reported at hospitals in the United Kingdom and New York City. Several children there diagnosed with PIMS also tested positive for carrying coronavirus antibodies in their blood.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) confirmed Friday that three of its patients diagnosed with PIMS have also tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.
CHLA said that it saw a significant increase in the number of patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in April compared with the same month in previous two years. CHLA doctors are now following up with all the children they treated for Kawasaki disease since the pandemic began to test them for coronavirus antibodies.
On Monday, the NYC Public Heath Department reported that 15 cases of PIMS had been diagnosed in patients ages 2 to 15 in pediatric ICUs. The cases were among patients who were hospitalized from mid-April to May 1.
According to CHLA, children appear to be contracting PIMS after having recovered from coronavirus.
“It (PIMS) describes a new health condition seen in children who have been infected with novel coronavirus, recovered from it and later have an immune response that results in significant levels of inflammation in organ systems and symptoms,” CHLA said in a news release Friday. “PIMS is similar to other inflammatory conditions like Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. Children who have PIMS generally did not have obvious symptoms when they were infected with novel coronavirus, like cough, and generally were healthy prior to developing PIMS.”
Symptoms include abdominal pain, redness in the eyes, enlarged lymph nodes on one side of the neck, high fever, cracked lips or a red tongue that looks like a strawberry, rashes and swollen hands and feet.
Treatment is similar to treatment for Kawasaki disease, which involves plasma transfusions to reduce the body’s immune response which is causing the inflammation. The goal is to reduce inflammation and prevent long-term damage to arteries, CHLA said.
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