A syndrome believed to cause severe illness in children exposed to COVID-19 has now been reported in Indiana. State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box announced the state’s first confirmed case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children Monday.
“This is a very serious condition, which is similar to what we call Kawasaki’s Disease,” Box explained. “Patients under the age of 21 present with fever, laboratory evidence of inflammation, and evidence of clinically-severe illness involving multiple organ systems that requires hospitalizations.”
Box said she didn’t ask where exactly the patient was from, to protect the person’s privacy, but she said many of the children with the syndrome will likely end up in the large children’s hospitals in Central Indiana. “We’ve asked hospitals to report suspected cases to us, as we can investigate and learn more about COVID-19 and how that may be impacting our younger people,” she said. “We also need parents to watch for persistent fever in their children and contact their pediatrician if the child appears more seriously ill.”
Box said the syndrome has appeared in New York City, the United Kingdom, and now elsewhere around the U.S. For the most part, it’s been older adults and those with underlying health issues who’ve had the most severe cases of COVID-19, and Box said a large number of children have probably been infected and not gotten seriously sick.
