Nearly 40 kids in NYC infected with COVID-19-related inflammatory disease, mayor says
Nearly 40 New York City children have been sickened with an inflammatory disease related to COVID-19, the city’s mayor says.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference about COVID-19 on Sunday that 38 children in the city have been infected with pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, which is linked to the coronavirus, and nine more potential cases are being investigated.
That’s up from the 15 who were previously reported, de Blasio said in the news conference.
Of the children who have been infected with the disease, 47% have tested positive for COVID-19 and, of those who tested negative, 81% had antibodies, meaning they had been exposed at some point, according to information shared at the news conference.
Experts suspect the syndrome is a result of a child’s immune system going into “overdrive” after being infected with the coronavirus, NBC News reports
The syndrome triggers an “intensive, almost overwhelming” response from the child’s immune system that causes problems for the body, de Blasio says.
“We’re all still waiting for the smoking gun to be sure it is associated with COVID-19,” Dr. Audrey John, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told NBC News.
One child in New York City has died.
“Previously this is something that we didn’t see cases of,” de Blasio said. “Then we started to see a few cases, then we saw more cases. Now we’ve actually lost a child to this syndrome and that is deeply, deeply troubling.”
At least 73 children in New York state have been infected with the illness, and three have died, McClatchy News reported Saturday. Nationally, about 100 children in several states have been diagnosed.
The mayor said Sunday that children previously have not been affected by the coronavirus to the same degree adults have been. But just in the last few days, officials have been seeing more of what he called the “rare” inflammatory condition among children.
Doctors told NBC News that the recent increase in reported cases is likely a result of an increase in awareness, not an actual increase in infections.
Symptoms include a fever, rash, stomach pain and vomiting, de Blasio said in the news conference. He said it’s important that “everyone who experiences this” gets immediate medical help.
De Blasio said city and health officials are now making it a priority to address the syndrome and that any child who experiences symptoms will be given an antibody test.
Jane Newburger, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, told NPR that the syndrome is still very rare and that only some children are severely affected.
“I hope what comes of this is that, because we’re seeing more cases, it will not take long before we will be better at recognizing this and treating it,” John told NBC news.
This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Nearly 40 kids in NYC infected with COVID-19-related inflammatory disease, mayor says."
