They might require hospitalisation, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. In rare cases, they might die.

CDC and partners are currently investigating a rare but serious medical condition associated with COVID-19 in children, called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, MIS-C.

“We do not yet know what causes MIS-C and who is at increased risk for developing it,” CDC said; noting that babies under one year old and children with certain underlying conditions may be more likely to have severe illness from COVID-19.

It adds that other children, regardless of age, with the following underlying medical conditions, might also be at increased risk of severe illness compared to other children.

Such conditions include asthma or chronic lung disease, diabetes, genetic, neurologic, or metabolic conditions, sickle cell disease, heart disease since birth, and immunosuppression (weakened immune system due to certain medical conditions or being on medications that weaken the immune system).

Other conditions include medical complexity (children with multiple chronic conditions that affect many parts of the body, or are dependent on technology and other significant supports for daily life), as well as obesity.

Mother of the six-year-old girl who succumbed to the virus said of the infection, “It presents very differently in children than it does in adults, so it’s hard to know what to look for.”

The mother, Priscilla Morse, relates that the girl, named Gigi, succumbed to the virus on August 4 last year in Tennessee, USA.

Yahoo News quoted the parents as telling the CNN that Gigi seemed fine in the hours before she died, except for a few unusual ailments. Though she had a normal temperature, there was a rash on her shoulder, and she had been sick twice. The concerned parents took her to a doctor.

The teary mother said, “We were told that she’s got a stomach bug,” adding that doctors advised them to take her home, let her eat some popsicles and get some rest.”

“So, we took her home, put her down for a nap. I went to the store to get popsicles, and I came home to two ambulances, fire trucks, police cars in front of my house, and my daughter dead,” she added.

Although rashes and vomiting are not typically associated with COVID-19 in adults, they are common signs of it in children, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The online health platform says children with the virus often have stomach symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, belly pain, diarrhoea, and poor appetite.

A rash, meanwhile, can be a sign of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, the platform added.

Gigi’s parents said, “Any parents who have kids who are lethargic, throwing up, and have a rash need to go to a doctor.”

Experts say children – and adults – who have other pre-existing medical conditions are especially vulnerable to the virus. In the case of six-year-old Gigi, she had autism, epilepsy, and hydrocephalus.

It may be recalled that the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the worst outcome of the coronavirus had spared children because its manifestation in them was less severe, often asymptomatic and often not clinically significant to visit the hospitals.

Ihekweazu spoke at the Virtual Plenary Session and Annual General Meeting of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria in Lagos in January.

“Just 10 percent of our cases have been confirmed in children and one percent deaths.

“The few deaths that occurred in children were likely to have happened to them through morbidity that led to deficits in coping with the virus,” he said.

Ihekweazu called for collaboration among governments, schools and parents to effectively protect children from contracting the virus.

Last September, the World Health Organisation had stated that, “So far, data suggests that children under the age of 18 years represent about 8.5 percent of reported [COVID-19] cases, with relatively few deaths, compared to other age groups and usually mild disease.”

However, it also noted that there were cases of critical illness among the young population on account of pre-existing health conditions.

“As with adults, pre-existing medical conditions have been suggested as a risk factor for severe disease and intensive care admission in children.

“Further studies are underway to assess the risk of infection in children and to better understand transmission in this age group,” WHO said.

source: Punch