Original Article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.016
- COVID-19 viral infection is typically very mild and often does not show symptoms in children.
- If complication develops in children associated with COVID-19, it may be the rare multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
- The multisystem inflammatory syndrome may occur 4 to 6 weeks after infection.
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome symptoms include high fever, organ dysfunction, and strongly elevated markers of inflammation.
- The mechanism of the disease development is unclear but has similar features with Kawasaki disease and a likely cause of autoimmune disease.
- Kawasaki disease causes inflammation in the walls of medium-sized arteries throughout the body, usually the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle.
- The study applies analyses of blood immune cells, cytokines, and autoantibodies in healthy children, children with Kawasaki disease enrolled prior to COVID-19, children infected with COVID-19 virus, and children presenting with multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
- Researchers found that the inflammatory response in multisystem inflammatory syndrome differs from the cytokine storm of severe acute COVID-19.
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome shares several features with Kawasaki disease, but differs from this condition with respect to T cell subsets, interleukin (IL)-17A, and biomarkers associated with arterial damage.
- Finally, autoantibody profiling suggests multiple autoantibodies that could be involved in the development of multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
Source:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.016
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/children/mis-c.html
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/kawasaki-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20354598
Keywords: complications of COVID-19 in children, COVID-19 complications, what are the complications of COVID-19 in children, what is MIS-C, COVID-19 in children
