Could COVID-19 Be Linked To A Rare Childhood Inflammatory Illness?

An intense inflammatory illness has struck children around the globe, and physicians suspect it may somehow be linked to COVID-19.

Several anecdotal reports have noted that some children with this strange inflammatory syndrome show similar symptoms to children with Kawasaki disease, which is a childhood illness that triggers inflammation in the blood vessels and can cause lasting heart damage, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD).

Physicians are calling the condition a “multisystem inflammatory” disease that shares some symptoms with Kawasaki disease, including high fever, skin rashes, and in some cases, heart inflammation, Live Science previously reported. Some of these symptoms also appear in toxic shock syndrome, a life-threatening condition caused by toxins produced by certain types of bacteria.

As children have been presenting with a wide array of symptoms, physicians have only noted that the condition sometimes seems “Kawasaki-like.” An official diagnosis of Kawasaki disease requires that a child show a specific number of symptoms associated with the disease, such as fever lasting at least five days, inflammation in the eyes, reddish skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes and a strawberry-red tongue.  However, children can also receive an “incomplete” diagnosis if they don’t present with every required ailment.

The exact cause of Kawasaki disease remains unknown, but the inflammatory state often arises during or after a viral infection, raising the question of whether COVID-19 could be a potential cause.