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Mysterious Syndrome Kills Children Diagnosed with Covid-19
Rare condition looks like a known disease that’s carried on high-altitude winds
A mysterious syndrome linked to Covid-19 in recent weeks has taken the lives of three children in New York, in a development that has vexed doctors there and elsewhere around the world.
Dozens of children diagnosed with Covid-19, including toddlers and at least one infant, have also developed a syndrome characterized by persistent fever and inflammation of body tissues that affects the function of one or more organs. That suggests the two conditions might be related. But it’s not clear if “pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome,” as it’s being called, is a symptom of Covid-19 or a separate disease occurring simultaneously.
The symptoms of the mystery syndrome resemble Kawasaki disease, an acute childhood illness that in a small percentage of cases causes a severe drop in blood pressure and organ failure. Scientists don’t yet know if the two diseases are occurring together, but it’s probable, one doctor tells me, that the cases involve an immune-system overreaction to Covid-19 that ends up looking like Kawasaki disease. Still, no conclusions have been reached.
