Long COVID-19 Side Effects In Kids May Include Inexplicable Pain: Expert

Some children who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection may develop side effects that include unexplainable inflammation and pain, a health expert said Monday.

Dr. Benito Atienza, an official of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), said the novel coronavirus could cause some long-term, recurring symptoms such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children.

“This is when parts of the body get inflamed and they cannot explain the pain. At times it could be caused by COVID among children and it can recur,” Dr. Atienza said during the "Laging Handa" public briefing, as translated by Inquirer.net.

MIS-C was first identified in April 2020 by health experts in the United States and the United Kingdom. While MIS-C is a rare complication of COVID-19, it typically occurs in school-age children around two to six weeks after the initial infection.

The illness has features similar to that of toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease. Initial symptoms may include fever, rashes, red eyes, diarrhea and vomiting. In more severe cases, the inflammation could spread to a child’s internal organs, such as the heart.

Parents are advised to immediately seek medical help if the child has a persistent fever of over 100F that lasts three or four days, appears to be unusually weak or dizzy, has rashes and complains about worsening abdominal pain or diarrhea, according to John Hopkins Medicine.

It is presently unclear why some children who have recovered from COVID-19 develop MIS-C while others have not. However, some health experts speculate that the side effect is an excessive immune response related to SARS-CoV-2.

Currently, health experts say the best way to prevent a child from developing MIS-C is to get them vaccinated against COVID-19. Parents whose children have not yet been vaccinated or are not yet eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine are advised to take preventive measures, such as social distancing and mask-wearing, to prevent an infection.

The news comes as the Philippines on Monday announced 2,730 additional COVID-19 infections, making it the lowest daily tally the country has reported since the beginning of 2022. The country’s positivity rate has also declined to 10.7% from 11.7% recorded Sunday.

As of Monday, the Philippines has registered a total of 3,639,942 COVID-19 infections. At least 76,609 cases are currently active.