What is Kawasaki Disease? Are children in India infected with COVID-19 at risk? How can you manage the disease?
Kawasaki disease is an illness that causes inflammation (swelling and redness) in blood vessels throughout the body. It happens in three phases, and a lasting fever usually is the first sign. The condition most often affects kids younger than 5 years old.Symptoms include lymphadenopathy and fever.Some reports from Mumbai and Delhi hospitals are showing that children who have recovered from Covid-19, and some who have tested negative for the virus, are showing some symptoms of a rare inflammatory illness called Kawasaki Disease (KD). The World Health Organisation is calling it Multisystem Inflammatory Disorder.
This is indirectly related to the coronavirus. What happens is that there is an inflammation that is happening to past Covid-19 infections which has probably happened 2-4 weeks ago. Now, it is an abnormal reaction of the body which is an immune disregulation, where the immunity has gone haywire.”So far, paediatric patients had a 54 per cent less chance of getting infected with Covid-19, and out of these only 1 per cent were becoming critical, especially among less than one-year-olds.”
But in some children, they start to develop inflammation around 2-4 weeks after they recover. “In fact, around 90 per cent of the paediatric patients who are showing these symptoms are testing Covid-19 negative.
The body reacts to the Covid-19 virus in the form of creating antibodies and T cells ., but now while Covid-19 has gone in most patients the body is reacting abnormally to those proteins which were formed to eliminate covid-19 .
The 3 main presentations are ;Prolonged fever,Kawasaki-like syndrome (red eyes, rashes, strawberry tongue),Classical hyper-inflammatory syndrome which is MISC (Multisystem inflammatory syndrome).
These can be devastating that in terms of causing low blood pressure that is happening in 80% of paediatric patients .80% of patients who land up with hyper-inflammation in ICU.
Most of these children have 75-80 per cent of Covid-19 antibodies, adds Dr Gupta. “But even if the child does not have antibodies, but had Covid-19 and is showing the symptoms, this disease should be considered.”
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Source: The Quint