This year, more Australian children have been diagnosed with a rare but life-threatening post-Covid disease than the previous two years together.
More than 100 children in Australia have been hospitalized with a rare but serious illness weeks after taking Covid, and some have ended up in intensive care.
Some of the children were not even ill when they first had Covid.
In the first two years of the pandemic, there were 35 patients treated for Covid-associated Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (PIMS-TS).
In the first four months of this year alone, that figure doubled to more than 72, according to data provided to news.com.au by the federal health department.
PIMS-TS is a rare syndrome in which different parts of the body become inflamed, usually between two and six weeks after taking Covid.
Less than 0.5% of children worldwide who have had Covid have developed the disease and it is believed that all patients in Australia have recovered.
But Dr. Catherine McAdam says it’s a terrifying experience for both the child and the family, and even when they leave the hospital it can be a stressful time.
Dr McAdam is Head of General Pediatrics at Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where the first PIMS-TS patient was treated in Australia in August 2020.
The hospital has now treated 28 children, most of whom stay between three and seven days.
“They’ve all fully recovered, but (the parents) lived with that anxiety for four or six weeks after‘ will my son be the first to have a long-term complication? “he told news.com.au.
Dr. McAdam also said patients should be discharged with medications such as aspirin every day to prevent blood clots and should return to the hospital for follow-up appointments.
Although the children were ill enough to be hospitalized, the severity of the illness varied.
“The case in our intensive care unit needed some medication to support heart pumping,” said Dr. McAdam, who was one of the most serious cases.
Interestingly, the severity of the child’s Covid infection does not predict the severity of PIMS-TS.
“Sometimes they don’t know they’ve had Covid … they never developed symptoms with their Covid infection, but they did develop it a few weeks later,” he said.
What is the disease?
It is not yet known why some children develop PIMS-TS after Covid.
In the United States, where some children have died, the syndrome is called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).
Children are affected differently by PIMS-TS, but the main symptoms include fever for several days, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, tightness / chest pain, extreme tiredness, rash, cold hands, and red eyes.
“There seem to be two variants,” Dr. McAdam said.
“One more abdominal pain, diarrhea and types of intestinal symptoms, and the other more skin, fever, inflammation.”
He explained that sometimes the patient would be in the hospital sick for a couple of days before the PIMS-TS was confirmed.
Associate Professor Shidan Tosif told him Herald Sun. the syndrome was “very rare,” but was the most important complication of Covid SARS infection in children.
Dr. Tosif is Covid’s clinical director at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, who has treated 29 patients, including children in the ICU.
“In some cases, (there is) a more severe presentation with what we call shock, where they are actually worse, have more intense pain, difficulty maintaining blood pressure and an altered state of consciousness,” he said.
“It has a potential risk to the heart and other organs and that’s why it’s important to recognize it and treat it soon.”
PIMS-TS cases in Australia
Data from the Pediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network – eight Australian hospitals that monitor PIMS-TS – show that the average age of a child with this disease is eight.
The youngest patient was only three months old and the oldest was 15 years old.
A panel of experts reviews all cases in Australia.
Although the latest data show that there were 107 cases as of the end of April, the figure is now higher.
Dr. Tosif said his hospital had seen more cases this year compared to the whole of last year, which he said “reflects the increase in omicrons we had.”
Dr. McAdam agreed that an increase in Covid cases had led to an increase in PIMS-TS cases.
“When we had confinements and very little infection (Covid) in the community we didn’t see it very often and as things opened up at the end of last year, we started to see a lot more … in February, I was seeing two to three (PIMS-TS) cases a week, “he said.
What role does the Covid vaccine play?
Dr. McAdam said his hospital had seen fewer cases of PIMS-TS as more children were vaccinated against Covid.
Australian children aged 5 to 11 could receive their first dose from 10 January.
“Vaccination works,” he said, and he also encouraged the flu shot.
“I suspect what we can see is that the average or average age of PIMS-TS is going down because we don’t have a vaccine available for children under five yet.”
Dr. Tosif also said that vaccination helped reduce the chances of children developing PIMS-TS.