COVID-19-Related 'Inflammatory Syndrom' Appears Among UK Children, Report Says

A United Kingdom report showed that a COVID-19-related “inflammatory syndrome” was found among children.

According to the New York Post, a “significant alert” that the U.K.’s clinical commissioning group distributed among general practitioners in North London said that there was an apparent increase in the number of children of all ages who displayed a “multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care” across the city of London and also in the other areas of the U.K.

The letter, which the Health Service Journal first obtained, continued, “There is a growing concern that a [COVID-19]-related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the U.K., or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.”

The Pediatric Intensive Care Society issued, disseminated and confirmed the “urgent alert” on Sunday night and the message “urged doctors to please refer children presenting with these symptoms as a matter of urgency.”

The children infected with the virus suffered, according to the alert, with "overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease along with blood test results that associated with children suffering from COVID-19", The Guardian reported.

Toxic shock syndrome, according to the NHS website manifests flu-like symptoms such as a sore throat, fatigue, body aches and coughs, diarrhea, malaise, confusion, difficulty in breathing, a high temperature, a sunburn-like rash all over the body with the lips, tongue and the whites of the eyes turning red; meanwhile, atypical Kawasaki disease, according to the Korean Journal of Pediatrics, is an illness among children which causes swollen and reddened blood vessels.

According to reports, some of the children who exhibited these symptoms tested positive for the virus while there are others who have not.

The Pediatric Intensive Care Society called for an “early discussion” of potential cases “with regional [pediatric] infectious disease and critical care teams.”

However, Pediatric sources told the Journal that it is still unclear how widespread these conditions are, although there are a small total number of children infected.

The report also stated that as with the case of the virus’ infectivity at the beginning of the pandemic, children are less likely to suffer the severe effects or die due to coronavirus infection.