A new condition related to coronavirus (Covid-19) has affected up to 100 children in the UK with a small number experiencing serious complications needing intensive care treatment. The disease has been compared to Kawasaki disease, which mainly affects children under the age of 5.
Named paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome or (PIMS-TS), NHS GPs were warned about the new condition in April after eight children became ill in London - including one 14-year-old who later died. 50 children have been admitted to the Evelina London Children's Hospital with the illness with around half since discharged. The rare but dangerous disease is believed to be caused by a delayed immune response to Covid-19.
What is PIMS-TS?
‘This is a new syndrome,’ Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. ‘It appears to be happening mostly after coronavirus infection, we believe it’s where the body’s immune system overreacts to coronavirus.’
Children are believed to make up just 1-2% of all Covid-19 cases and account for less than 500 hospital admissions.
What are the symptoms of the Kawasaki-like disease?
Children admitted to Evelina London Children’s Hospital had a high fever, rash, red eyes, swelling and general pain. Most of them had no major lung of breathing problems but some were put on ventilators to help heart and circulation problems. Doctors have compared it to Kawasaki disease shock syndrome, which is a rare condition where symptoms include a rash, swollen glands in the neck and dry and cracked lips.
How many cases of PIMS-ST are there in the UK?
Viner said there have been 75 to 100 cases across the UK. ‘We can count the number of children that have died with coronavirus on the fingers of two hands, compared to over 30,000 in adults and that tells us most of what we need to know,’ he said, telling parents not to be overly worried.
He added that cases are now ‘falling away’ as Covid-19 infections fall in adults. ‘This happens after coronavirus, so it appears to have peaked perhaps two to four weeks after the coronavirus peak,’ he said. ‘But now we think cases are settling. So parents need to be aware, but I don’t believe they need to be concerned.’
Is the PIMS-ST disease present around the world?
Similar cases have been reported in the US, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. According to New York governor Andrew Cuomo, at least 15 US states are looking into the rare condition, with 53 of 82 children diagnosed with the disease testing positive for Covid-19 antibodies.
In Italy, 10 children are known to have been affected and recovered; they had severe symptoms such as heart complications and signs of toxic shock syndrome needing steroid treatment.
Child health experts in the UK are now working with researchers in the US and rest of Europe to understand PIMS better.
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