Parents Should Take Note Of New Illness

A Cookeville Regional doctor said parents should be aware of but not frightened by a new illness affecting children, potentially connected to COVID-19.

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome has shown up in 19 states and Washington DC over the last several weeks. Dr. Apryl Hall is a hospitalist in pediatrics at CRMC. She said the medical community has seen similar viral illnesses before in very small pockets.

“I want to really press that this is very rare,” Hall said. “And we’re talking about zero point five to two percent of all of the children who have had SARS or COVID-19.”

Hall said children who might be dealing with the syndrome will be sick beyond anything normal and the illness can happen quickly.

“What we see in these children is that they look very sick,” Hall said. “They have fevers greater than 100.4, but most of them greater than 101. They have red cracked lips. They have red eyes. They’re pale. A lot of these kids are on oxygen, have blood pressure issues. They’re not able to get up and move around like normal kids. They are very ill. Sometimes they’ll have abdominal pain and severe diarrhea.”

If a parent sees these symptoms, Hall said take the child to an emergency room where they can be effectively treated.

Though some have called the syndrome a “mystery illness” in children, that may simply be rhetoric. Hall said the body can start inflammatory responses to viral attacks, something pediatricians have seen in children for a long time. More study will be needed to understand whether the syndrome is truly connected to COVID-19, Hall said.

“We also know that it crops up in groups, in certain areas, and we suspect that is two-fold,” Hall said. “One, it’s because of the same virus that may be going around in that particular area. And then secondly, we think that some people have a genetic predisposition. So no matter what, even if it is related to this virus or a strain of this virus, we know that this is always very few patients and very often they’re in little groups like we are seeing pop up.”

Some parents may be alarmed because the consistent messaging nationwide has been children seem less susceptible to COVID-19 than other viral illnesses. Hall said parents should simply continue to practice simple hygiene precautions that we all are becoming used to.

“So I think that we need to keep in perspective that this virus is going to be with us for a long time and we need to always use good hand hygiene,” Hall said. “We need to always be cognizant of protecting ourselves and protecting others, especially in this scary time. And honestly, you know, if you look at the actual statistics, the chances of your child getting this are really, really low. And having any of these diseases is very, very low and could have happened with similar viruses or other viruses that are out there.”

As of Friday, there have been no reports of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Tennessee.