PIMS
Serious COVID-19 Trends in Children: What We Know So Far
© David Tadevosian / Shutterstock
In most cases, children have only mild COVID-19 courses or no symptoms at all. However, the number of infections is increasing among those under 16 years of age. Doctors fear that the number of cases with the new Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS) will also increase.
As early as April 2020, scientists in Italy investigated a connection between COVID-19 and Kawasaki syndrome in children. In the course of the past year, various studies have now found that some children have been shown to develop a new type of syndrome after a corona infection: the Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome, PIMS for short (In German one speaks of the multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children).
What is PIMS?
This reacts in children affected by PIMS Immune system delayed on a corona disease and usually expresses itself with the following Symptoms (not all symptoms apply to all children!):
- high fever
- Conjunctivitis
- Swelling of the lymph nodes
- stomach pain
- Dizziness
- Rash, reddened hands
How often does the syndrome occur in Germany so far?
So far, in Germany since May 2020 in total 245 children suffers from PIMS (as of March 21, 2021, source: DGPI). Of these 245 sick children, the majority became intensive care treated. Almost all of the little patients received immunomodulatory therapies (i.e. those that change or strengthen the immune system), many of them also one Antibiotic therapy.
While COVID-19 infections are roughly evenly distributed among boys and girls, they fell ill mostly boys to PIMS (65 percent). The average age of the affected children was around eight years.
Of the children treated, 93 percent had no consequential damage (cardiovascular system). The good news: So far are all children recovered!
The tricky thing about this inflammatory disease, however, is that it is only two to four weeks occurs after a COVID-19 infection. In addition, many children have such mild corona symptoms or the disease remains completely undetected in them that parents never even get the idea that the symptoms could have anything to do with corona.
If you suspect that your child has PIMS, go to the clinic with them immediately hospital. Because one quick treatment is crucial.
swell
- Current results of the data collection of Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS) cases in children and adolescents in Germany. Calendar week 11, 2021. German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, eV, accessed on March 22, 2021.
- Eman A Toraih, et al .: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in pediatric COVID-19 patients: a meta-analysis. World Journal of Pediatrics, February 20, 2021.
- Rachel Harwood, et al .: A national consensus management pathway for pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19 (PIMS-TS): results of a national Delphi process. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, February 2021.
This article originally appeared on Eltern.de.