Coronavirus: Doctors check link between child blood disorder and coronavirus

Doctors have raised the alarm over a small but growing number of children displaying symptoms of a rare blood-vessel disease.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday he was “very worried” by reports of Kawasaki disease/ Picture: AFP

Doctors in Italy and Britain have raised the alarm over a small but growing number of children displaying symptoms of a rare blood-vessel disease that may be linked to COVID-19.

In both countries, doctors have alerted their colleagues to look out for symptoms associated with Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory condition that typically affects young children. Symptoms include­ stomach pain, skin rashes and a high fever. The disease is rarely life-threatening, but can cause lasting heart problems if untreate­d.

Many children affected have shown unusually severe symptoms, prompting doctors in both countries to wonder whether they are dealing with a new inflammatory condition.

Of the several dozen known cases that have emerged in Italy and Britain so far, some children required intensive-care treatment but most made a quick recovery. All are alive. While many tested positive for the novel coronavirus or had antibodies showing a past infection, others hadn’t.

Doctors are trying to establish if there is a link between the virus and the unusually high number of children with Kawasaki-like symptoms. In northern Italy, an area that suffered one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, doctors say the virus is the most likely explanation for the abnormal­ number of cases.

“This disease, Kawasaki, is appeari­ng more frequently than ever before,” said Lucio Verdoni, a paediatrician at Bergamo’s Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital who has treated 15 children with Kawasaki symptoms in recent weeks.

“And the strongest link is epidem­iological: at a time when we are seeing a spike in corona­virus infections, we are also seeing a spike in Kawasaki.”

Dr Verdoni says his hospital normally treats at most five cases of Kawasaki a year. Of the 15 cases he has seen since the end of Feb­ruary — when the coronavirus outbreak emerged — the majority tested positive to the virus or to its antibodies. But many children that recently developed Kawasaki-like symptoms tested negative.

The World Health Organisation was only aware of Kawasaki syndrome-like inflammation occurring in one or two countries. The condition “seems to be very, very rare”, said WHO technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove.

“To reassure parents out there, this is a rare complication,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies program.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday he was “very worried” by reports of the condition and doctors were looking into it. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said it was “entirely plausible” the condition was caused by the coronavirus, as some infected adults also suffered from severe inflammation. Sanjay Patel, a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases who treated one of the affected­ children in Southampton, said normally he would see one or two cases of Kawasaki disease a year, far fewer than childhood cancers, for example.

“We can’t confirm it’s due to COVID. All we can say is this cluster has been seen while we have this COVID pandemic going on,” he said. In Britain, there are fewer than 20 affected children.

The Wall Street Journal