Children with asymptomatic coronavirus infections can still develop associated inflammatory syndrome, review finds

A new review published in The Lancet last week shed more light on the "Kawasaki-like" inflammatory syndrome associated with children who were infected by the coronavirus.

The main takeaway was that the syndrome known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C), which results in symptoms like fevers, rashes, swollen extremities, and issues in a number of different organs, is serious — 71 percent of the children observed in the study were admitted to the intensive care unit — and potentially fatal, although the vast majority of patients responded to treatment.

But the Lancet review made another important, worrisome finding. Per the review, it does not appear that the severity of the affected children's coronavirus infections was a determining factor in who developed the inflammatory syndrome. Indeed, some children who had an asymptomatic case of COVID-19 still developed MIS-C, which typically manifests three to four weeks after infection. Similarly, 52 percent of the patients with MIS-C did not have any underlying medical conditions. In short, the review notes, more research is needed to determine why some children may be more susceptible to the syndrome. Read more at The Lancet.

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