Nearly 100 children affected by deadly syndrome

NEARLY 100 children have suffered from a potentially deadly inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus.

Experts believe that some children have a ‘delayed immune response’ that leaves them severely ill for four or five days a month after being infected with the virus.

Last month NHS experts alerted GPs to the syndrome, which causes sepsis-like symptoms and has killed a 14-year-old boy from London.

Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that between 75 and 100 UK children have been treated for the syndrome. ‘We can’t prove it is caused by Covid but it would be extremely odd if it was not linked to it,’ he added.

Some experts believe the cases are likely to be the ‘tip of the iceberg’ but Professor Viner emphasised that the syndrome is very rare.

Fewer than ten children have died from coronavirus in the UK and most get no symptoms. Dr Liz Whittaker, of Imperial College London, said children

‘Extremely odd if it was not linked to Covid’

affected by the new syndrome experience high fevers, severe abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Some have a rash and red eyes and lips, and a few develop shock and need intensive care. Those affected were aged between five and 15.

The symptoms are similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare illness that triggers inflammation of blood vessels and can lead to aneurysms and heart attacks.

Most of the children tested negative for coronavirus when admitted to hospital but antibody tests showed they had previously had the disease.

Dr Whittaker said: ‘The peak we’re seeing in children with this paediatric inflammatory syndrome is several weeks after the peak of Covid-19 across the country.’

Professor Viner said the syndrome is ‘exceptionally rare’ and should not prevent children going back to school.

A study in The Lancet yesterday revealed a small number of children in Italy and the US have also been affected by the disease.

Doctors in Bergamo, the centre of Italy’s pandemic, said there were ten cases between February 18 and April 20, 2020, compared with only 19 cases in the previous five years. Health officials in New York said 64 children have been taken to hospital with the illness that may be linked to coronavirus.