Covid-19: Cases of inflammatory syndrome in children surge after urgent alert

Thirty fold increase In the province of Bergamo, Italy, researchers have reported a 30 fold increased incidence of Kawasaki like disease since the start of the covid-19 outbreak. Among the covid-19 group more children had cardiac symptoms (6 out of 10), Kawasaki disease shock syndrome (5 out of 10), macrophage activation syndrome (5 out of 10), and the need for adjunctive steroid treatment (8out of 10). In the pre-covid-19 group only two of 19 children had cardiac involvement and just three required adjunctive steroid treatment. A distinct syndrome Julia Kenny, a consultant in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology at Evelina London Children's Hospital, said that the Italian findings appear consistent with cases seen in the south east of England.