Three children in NY die from rare inflammatory illness linked to COVID

By Yoshita Singh

New York, May 9 () In a disturbing development, three children have died from a rare inflammatory illness linked to the coronavirus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.

New York, the worst-hit US state, has over 335,890 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 26,000 deaths. The US has recorded more than 77,340 fatalities and nearly 13 lakh COVID-19 cases -- both highest in the world.

"Toddler, elementary school children are presenting symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome...the illness has taken the lives of three young New Yorkers," Cuomo said.

The situation is "new and developing" and is very serious, he said.

Kawasaki disease primarily affects children up to the age of five and causes the walls of arteries to become inflamed, resulting in fever, skin peeling and joint pain. Other symptoms include diarrhea or vomiting, breathing trouble, a paling of skin colour, chest pain and lethargy.

"This is the last thing that we need at this time with all that is going on, with all the anxiety we have now, for parents to have to worry about whether or not their youngster is infected," Cuomo said.

The New York Department of Health is working with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a national criteria for this so that other states and hospital systems can also investigate the situation.

The state will be working with the New York Genome Centre and Rockefeller University to determine what is causing the illness that Governor Cuomo described on Saturday as "truly disturbing."

A five-year-old boy died in New York from the rare inflammatory illness linked to the coronavirus, and death of another 7-year old boy was being investigated for possible links to the mysterious syndrome, the Governor said, without giving any more details about the cases.

The details of the third dead child is not not known.

On Thursday, the 5-year-old boy passed away in New York City from these COVID-related complications, Cuomo said.

The New York State Department of Health is investigating several cases of the severe illness in children and child deaths that may be linked to the serious inflammatory disease called 'Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Associated with COVID-19'.

There have been 73 reported cases in New York where children are experiencing symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome possibly due to COVID-19.

Officials in Westchester County in upstate New York said that a young boy died late last week at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla.

Physician-in-Chief of Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, where the boy passed away, said the child suffered "serious neurological complications" from the pediatric multi-symptom inflammatory syndrome.

Authorities are investigating the death of the 7-year old boy to see if it is linked to the syndrome.

"So, this is every parent's nightmare, right? That your child may actually be affected by this virus. But it's something we have to consider seriously now," Cuomo said.

The Governor said there is still a lot that is not known about COVID-19, "and in the beginning we were led to believe that the good news about this virus was it didn't affect children."

"Now we have a new issue that we're looking at where some children affected with the COVID-19 virus are becoming ill with symptoms similar to the Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome. This would be really painful news and would open up an entirely different chapter in our fight against this virus," he said.

The State Department of Health has issued an advisory about the serious inflammatory disease.

Parents have been advised to seek immediate care if a child has prolonged fever (more than five days), difficulty feeding (in infants) or is too sick to drink fluids, severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting, change in skin colour, trouble breathing, lethargy, irritability or confusion.

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said with each passing day "we're learning more about this terrible virus, and this potentially new development requires even greater understanding. We'll devote the resources of the department to research each potential case and share our findings with healthcare providers around the state and country".

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, "The disease can be fatal, and we want to make sure everyone in Westchester County is aware to be on the lookout for symptoms that may lead to this."

Though most children who get COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms, in the United Kingdom, a possible link has also been reported between pediatric COVID-19 and serious inflammatory disease.

The inflammatory syndrome has features which overlap with Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome and may occur days to weeks after acute COVID-19 illness. It can include persistent fever, abdominal symptoms, rash, and even cardiovascular symptoms requiring intensive care.

Earlier this week, the New York City Health Department said 15 children aged 2-15 years had been hospitalised from April 17- May 1 with Kawasaki disease or features of toxic shock.

Of the 15 children, four had tested positive for COVID19. More than half of the reported patients required blood pressure support and five required mechanical ventilation.

The syndrome has received growing attention in recent weeks as cases began appearing in European countries hit hard by the coronavirus. YAS SCY