Pediatric doctors concerned with inflammatory syndrome caused by COVID-19

VENTURA, Calif. - Pediatric doctors in Ventura County say there are new warnings related to the coronavirus causing rare inflammatory syndrome.

“We are planning to see more and hoping that we don’t. But as it looks currently we are expecting a spike in the number of cases in children as well.”

Dr. Jesse Wyatt is a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Medical Director at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura. He says the disease is known as MIS-C or Multi-Inflammatory System.

“The kids will have had a known infection so they would have tested positive for COVID-19 or had a family member who is a known positive,” said Dr. Wyatt. “So they are infected prior and then develop this disease process.”

Children with MIS-C have a fever for multiple days. They can also have vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and redness of eyes. Health experts say children don’t typically have the same symptoms found in older COVI-19 patients so no cough or runny nose.

“The thing we really worry about is if this disease isn’t caught early it will progress to cardio genetic shock of decrees function of the heart,” said Dr. Wyatt. “So it can be very serious and life threatening.”

Ventura County has seen a recent jump in positive cases of patients under the age of seventeen. Nearly 681 have tested positive for the virus. But only two have been admitted to the ICU in county. Dr. Wyatt said both of those cases were MIS-C.

“One was a 5-year-old that did well and was caught early so there was no cardiac involvement,” said Dr. Wyatt. “The other case was a teenager who was caught a little bit later and did have some substantial cardiac issues, but they are both doing well and have recovered.”

Dr. Wyatt revealed that both of the kids infected with MIS-C had no health issues.
Health experts say the best way to keep kids safe during this pandemic is to keep practicing physical distancing, wearing masks, and washing hands.