Coronavirus: doctors in Italy, France report rare inflammatory syndrome in children

The condition, also seen in the US, Britain and Spain, has symptoms including fever, rashes, swollen glands and heart inflammation

Scientists are determining whether the syndrome is linked with Covid-19 amid concerns that coronavirus may pose a greater risk to children than thought

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An electron microscope image of the novel coronavirus. Doctors in the US, Italy and France have seen noticed a rare but serious condition in children linked with Covid-19. Photo: AP

Published: 3:15pm, 15 May 2020Updated: 3:15pm, 15 May 2020

Doctors in northern Italy, one of the areas hardest hit by the new coronavirus, and in France have reported spikes in cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome in young children that appears similar to one reported in the United States, Britain and Spain, according to a report in The Lancet.

The condition, “Paediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Potentially Associated with Covid-19”, shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease including fever, rashes, swollen glands and, in severe cases, heart inflammation.

Reports of cases have raised concerns that Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, could pose a greater risk to children than had been understood. It has so far taken its greatest toll on the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.

A nine-year-old boy is treated in a New York hospital after being admitted with severe dehydration, abdominal pain and a racing heart. He tested positive for coronavirus. Photo: AP

New York on Sunday said it was investigating up to 85 cases of children with the syndrome. So far three of those children, who also tested positive for Covid-19, have died, and two more deaths are under review, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

In Bergamo, Italy between Feb. 18 and April 20, the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII admitted 10 children with the syndrome, including eight who tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

Over the last five years, doctors there had seen a total of only 19 children with Kawasaki disease, according to the report published by The Lancet late on Wednesday.