4 cases of rare COVID-linked condition in children reported in Maharashtra

Four children in Maharashtra, who had symptoms of falling blood pressure levels and breathlessness, were admitted to a hospital over a month after their mothers contracted COVID-19. The children showed up no symptoms of the disease but were found to have antibodies to COVID-19, which indicates past infection. The children were admitted to Kasturba Hospital in Sevagram.

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The four children have been fighting a rare, potentially fatal, inflammatory condition known as a multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). This condition generally develops within six weeks after children recover from COVID-19. At Kasturba Hospital, two of the four admitted children recovered, while the other two were being treated in intensive care, reported the BBC.

“I would worry about this condition. We simply don’t know how deep this problem is. It is worrisome; we still don’t have data on the burden of this disease in India”, Dr SP Kalantri, the medical superintendent of the hospital, told the BBC.

Paediatricians across the country, in recent times, have reported cases of this condition, although, the exact number of cases is not known yet. But the United States reported over 4,000 MIS-C cases and 36 deaths due to the condition. 

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At Gangaram Hospital in Delhi, intensive care paediatric Dr Dhiren Gupta has seen over 75 MIS-C patients since March, who were of the age group of 4-15 years. The hospital opened an 18-bed ward for MIS-C. He believes that there have been over 500 such cases in and around Delhi.

Some doctors say that MIS-C occurs due to an extreme immune response to coronavirus, which can potentially result in inflammation of organs, reported the BBC.