Kids treated for virus-linked syndrome

Mysterious inflammatory illness that affects children reported by local pediatric hospitals

Houston’s two major pediatric hospitals are treating children with the inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus, officials at those institutions said Thursday, the area’s first examples of the mysterious condition now surfacing around the nation.

Texas Children’s and Children’s Memorial Hermann hospital officials said Thursday several patients have or are suspected to have what’s known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. The syndrome has emerged in recent weeks as the most serious coronavirus-associated threat to kids. Previously, children seemed to escape great risk from the virus, which causes COVID-19.

“Thankfully, we were prepared for this, having first heard about it a month ago from colleagues in Europe,” said Dr. Daniel Penny,

Texas Children’s chief of cardiology. “We were terrified at the prospect of COVID-19 in children, then breathed a sigh of relief when so few became infected. It turns out there is the MIS-C risk, but so far we’re pleased with how our cases are going.”

Penny said the Texas Children’s patients, fewer than 10, are on the road to recovery. Some were critically ill at one point.

Children’s Memorial Hermann has treated several patients suspected to have MIS-C and all have recovered, a spokeswoman said.

MIS-C is considered quite rare, though there are few official numbers at this point, some two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began recognizing the illness as associated with the coronavirus. The recognition came after cases began surfacing in New York City, now at nearly 100 confirmed cases and another roughly 100 suspected cases.

Texas’ department of health said Thursday no cases reported to the agency have met their definition of MIS-C, even though Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth publicly announced four cases Tuesday. Penny said Texas Children’s has reported cases it has confirmed to the CDC.

Penny said MIS-C is characterized by an exaggerated inflammatory response, something like an autoimmune disease, wherein the body, not the virus, attacks the tissue. He said it most often occurs after the virus is gone. Texas Children’s diagnosed MIS-C after its testing found those patients had antibodies to the virus — that is, that they’d previously mounted an immune response.

Symptoms include high fever; a rash on the chest, back and abdomen; red eyes; swelling and inflammation of the mouth, lips and

throat; enlarged lymph glands in the neck; and redness and swelling of the hands and feet, according to the statement.

Texas Children’s is bringing back patients it previously treated for COVID-19 to conduct follow-up testing to ensure there’s no delayed effect suggesting MIS-C. It also issued a statement encouraging parents to call their pediatrician if their child exhibits MIS-C symptoms.

Pediatricians compare MIS-C to another rare illness called Kawasaki disease, which causes the patient’s blood vessels to become inflamed. That condition usually resolves in days to weeks, though Penny called it a severe illness that is one of the more common causes of acquired heart disease in children.

Key distinctions between the two diseases, Penny said, are that MIS-C can affect older children — teenagers, as opposed to kids younger than 8 — and is characterized by abdominal pain more often than that symptom is seen in Kawasaki.

Penny, also a Baylor College of

Medicine professor of pediatrics said MIS-C appears to surface in a community at least a month after the virus begins circulating and diagnosed in adults. He said genetics likely explain which children develop the condition.