Doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain have been warned to look out for a rare inflammatory condition in children that is possibly linked to the new coronavirus.
Earlier this week, Britain’s Paediatric Intensive Care Society issued an alert to doctors that in the past three weeks, there has been an increase in the number of children with “a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care” across the country.
The group said there was “growing concern” that either a COVID-19 related syndrome was emerging in children or that a different, unidentified disease might be responsible.
Photo: AFP
“We already know that a very small number of children can become severely ill with COVID-19, but this is very rare,” Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health president Russell Viner said.
“New diseases may present in ways that surprise us and clinicians need to be made aware of any emerging evidence of particular symptoms,” he said.
The cases were also reported to have features of toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease, a rare blood vessel disorder.
Only some of the children tested positive for COVID-19, so scientists are unsure if these rare symptoms are caused by the novel coronavirus or by something else.
Health officials estimate there have been about 10 to 20 such cases in Britain and the National Health Service (NHS) England said that it is urgently investigating the reports.
Spain’s Association of Pediatrics has made a similar warning, telling doctors that in recent weeks, there had been a number of school-age children suffering from “an unusual picture of abdominal pain, accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms” that could lead within hours to shock, low blood pressure and heart problems.
“It is a priority to recognize these [symptoms] to urgently refer these patients to a hospital,” the association said.
In Italy, Angelo Ravelli of Gaslini Hospital and a member of the Italian Pediatricians Society, sent a note to 10,000 colleagues with related concerns.
He and his team reported an unusual increase in the number of patients with Kawasaki disease, adding that some children had COVID-19 or had contacts with confirmed virus cases.
Kawasaki symptoms include a high temperature that lasts for five days or more, a rash and swollen glands in the neck, the NHS said.
While the reports were concerning, there was still no solid evidence that the rare syndrome was caused by COVID-19, said James Gill, an honorary clinical lecturer at Warwick Medical School.
“Regardless of source, multisystem inflammatory diseases are exceptionally serious for children and already stretched intensive care teams, so keeping an extra eye out for new symptoms arising in the patients we see is always a good thing,” he said.
Some possible cases have also been reported in France and Belgium.
The WHO said it was attempting to gather more information on any new, coronavirus-related syndrome in children from its global network of doctors, but had not received any official reports about it.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS