Children appear with mysterious symptoms

Health Secretary says he is ‘very worried’ as top scientists investigate whether inflammatory illness is linked to Covid-19 ‘as a matter of urgency’

Children are falling ill with a mystery “inflammatory syndrome” thought to be linked to coronavirus, senior doctors have warned. NHS leaders issued an alert after seeing a rise in children sent to intensive care with rashes, kidney failure and stomach problems. Patients have symptoms similar to those of toxic shock and a condition called Kawasaki syndrome. Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, has asked experts to investigate “as a matter of urgency”.

Bill Gardner

CHILDREN are falling ill with a mystery “inflammatory syndrome” thought to be linked to coronavirus, senior doctors have warned.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said he was “very worried” about the new wave of children going into intensive care, and his top advisers are looking into it “as a matter of urgency”.

NHS leaders have issued a nationwide alert after a sudden spike in children admitted to intensive care with rashes, kidney failure and stomach problems.

The young patients have been struck down by a combination of toxic shock and Kawasaki syndrome, a rare condition that weakens the blood vessels and usually affects children under five. Some have been admitted to intensive care after their hearts became dangerously inflamed, while others have been put on ventilators, it is understood.

Last night Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said he had asked experts to examine “as a matter of urgency”

‘This is a very rare situation but it is entirely plausible that this is caused by this virus, at least in some cases’

‘We’re baffled by this, The children are becoming unwell quite quickly. No patient is exactly the same’

whether a coronavirus-related syndrome among children may be emerging in the UK.

“We have become aware in the last few days of reports of severe illness in children which might be a Kawasakilike disease,” he said.

“Both Chris [Whitty] and I are aware of that, and we have asked our experts, I have asked the National Clinical Director for Children and Young People, to look into this as a matter of urgency.”

Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, added: “This is a very rare situation but I think it is entirely plausible that this is caused by this virus, at least in some cases.”

NHS leaders were quick to reassure parents that only a “handful” of cases had been identified, and said the risk to children from coronavirus remained low. The link between the new combination of symptoms and Covid-19 has not yet been confirmed, they said, and advice to parents remains unchanged.

In an alert sent to GPS, health chiefs said: “There is growing concern that a [Covid-19] related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK. Over the last three weeks there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the UK.”

A similarly worded warning was issued by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society to clinicians across the UK. It told clinical staff to urgently refer children suffering from three symptoms: abdominal pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and cardiac inflammation.

Since coronavirus first began to spread across the world last December, relatively few children have died from the disease. Only nine people under the age of 19 have died in England in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 – around 0.05 per cent of the total death toll. Their apparent resilience has puzzled doctors because young people are typically “super-spreaders” of other viral illnesses such as flu.

Children began presenting with the new syndrome around three weeks ago, according to the NHS alert. Often the patients are found to be suffering from stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Unlike adults, however, most of the children do not initially present with a cough or other respiratory problems, it is understood. The majority are found to have a fever and a persistently high temperature.

One paediatric doctor at a major London hospital told The Daily Telegraph that some of the children have developed “darkened knuckles” for reasons unknown. Medics at the hospital are treating around a dozen children aged mostly between 10 and 12. “We’re baffled by this,” he said. “These children are becoming unwell quite quickly. They start feeling generally unwell, with non-specific symptoms. Then many of them develop rashes on the neck, forearms and abdomen. The rashes can be flat, raised, angry-looking or gentle. No patient is exactly the same.

“Some come in with darkened knuckles, which is not normal. It suggests some form of vasculitis – inflammation of the blood vessels. It’s likely to be some form of auto-immune reaction or ischemic response, where the blood supply is restricted.

“It’s all very new. We don’t know if there’s a mutated form of the virus which is causing this.

“The time line is odd, too. All the kids I have talked to have stayed inside for the last few weeks, so it doesn’t match what we know about the incubation period. But because of the lack of testing, we can’t know for sure if they caught it off their parents, or by some other route.”

All 12 children in the London hospital tested positive for Covid-19, although in other areas some patients have tested negative. It is not known whether any of the children have yet died.

Doctors in other countries, including Italy and the US, have reported similar cases. Public Health England announced yesterday that every case of coronavirus in children will be analysed by central labs.