Coronavirus alert: Rare syndrome seen in UK children

[nitpicker]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52439005

Coronavirus alert: Rare syndrome seen in UK children

By Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News online

43 minutes ago

NHS doctors have been warned to look out for a rare but dangerous reaction in children that may be linked to coronavirus infection.

An urgent alert sent out to GPs said that intensive care departments in London and other parts of the UK have been treating severely sick children with unusual symptoms.

This includes "multi-system inflammation" with flu-like symptoms.

Some, but not all, tested positive for coronavirus.

It is unclear how many children have experienced the reaction, although the numbers will be low.
(snip)

The alert, issued by NHS England, said there was "a growing concern" that a coronavirus-related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infection linked to these cases.

These young patients of varying ages were extremely ill. They had similar features to toxic shock syndrome, which can include a high temperature, low blood pressure, a rash and difficulty breathing.

Some also had gastrointestinal symptoms - tummy pain, vomiting or diarrhoea - and inflammation of the heart, as well as abnormal blood test results.

Experts say these are the signs you can see when the body becomes overwhelmed as it tries to fight off an infection.

The alert advises these cases need urgent treatment.

But experts stress that very few children become severely ill with coronavirus - evidence from around the world suggests they are the population least affected by the disease.
(snip)

NHS England said it knew of fewer than 20 such cases in the country where an association has been noted by clinicians. Investigations will continue, but no link has yet been established, said a spokesman.
(snip)

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. Kicking

[Mike 03]

2. Kicking, this seems important

Some of the symptoms almost make it sound a little bit like Reye's syndrome. I'm sure they would know enough to rule that out. Very strange.

[agingdem]

4. septic shock

I was hospitalized with it last October...loss of taste, smell, appetite, fever and then sudden drop in body temp, chills and whole body tremors, abdominal pain, severe esophagitis, rash on legs (broken capillaries), very low glucose level, headache, dehydrations ...I had an IV drip...two super strong antibiotics..it was lovely (that's sarcasm)

[LeftInTX]

5. My mom had that

We didn't know what was wrong with her....
She collapsed. My sister thought it was a suicide attempt. Her hemoglobin/hct was real low. Doctors thought she had internal bleeding. After a day in the ER and searching for the source if bleeding, it was determined that she had a ruptured appendix. Of course, she had peritonitis too. It took awhile, but she made a full recovery.

[agingdem]

6. Covid19 ...

has so many of the same symptoms

[Wounded Bear]

3. K & R...seems like it doesn't happen often, but looks serious...

we know CV can cause blood clotting, which can lead to a lot of problems in multiple organs.

This virus is nasty.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Some still say "doesn't touch kids" and "it's only a little flu" (on RW). . . . nt

[Blue_true]

8. I have to wonder about whether covid19 has found a perfect host in humans and

is busily mutating to gain maximum survival.

From what I can gather, the 1918 virus behaved in a similar way. Once it was in people, it spread then mutated and came back even deadlier. Can covid19 be a SARS or MERS variant that got the part down about efficiently spreading better than either of those and now that it's in a perfect host, is mutating to infect and seriously sicken a larger swath of it's new host?