E-Paper
18 children die of post-Covid complications in Rajasthan in 2 months
Dr Ashok Gupta, in charge of the Centre of Rare Disease, Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, said MIS-C is a rare complication characterised by fever, inflammation, and multi-organ dysfunction that typically manifests two weeks after a child has been cured of Covid-19.
Jaipur: Eighteen children have died in the past two months because of post-Covid complications in Rajasthan because of a rare inflammatory disease whose cause is not yet very clear, doctors have said.
Seventeen of these deaths occurred at J K Lone hospital in Jaipur due to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). The hospital, which is the biggest in Rajasthan for children, received 155 such cases.
Dr Ashok Gupta, in charge of the Centre of Rare Disease, Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, said MIS-C is a rare complication characterised by fever, inflammation, and multi-organ dysfunction that typically manifests two weeks after a child has been cured of Covid-19.
He said in the second wave, many children got exposed to Covid-19 and all were mostly asymptomatic. “The parents aren’t aware of this disease and delay in timely treatment intensifies it,” he said.
According to the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the cause of MIS-C is not known but it is believed to be an excessive immune response to Covid-19. “However, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes Covid-19, or had been around someone with Covid-19. MIS-C can be serious, even deadly, but most children who were diagnosed with this condition have gotten better with medical care,” a CDC advisory to parents read.
Gupta said the symptoms include high fever for over 24 hours, skin rashes, stomachache, faster heart rate, breathing difficulty, and swelling on hands, lips, and face, etc.
He also said that most of those affected by MIS-C had Covid antibodies, which meant that the children were Covid-19 infected. The disease is diagnosed through antibody tests, inflammatory markers, and clinical presentation. “Early diagnosis and treatment are the only cure of MIS-C,” Gupta added.
At AIIMS, Jodhpur, around two dozen cases of MIS-C and a death have been reported.
Dr Kuldeep Singh, the head of the paediatric department at Jodhpur Medical College, said MIS-C is happening in the age-group of 1-18 years. “When the immunity level increases, the antibodies that develop after Covid-19 infection start attacking blood vessels and tissues,” Singh said, adding that the impact of MIS-C is seen after three to six weeks.
Pointing out similarities between MIS-C and Kawasaki, another inflammatory disease in children that attacks coronary arteries, Singh said it is easily treatable if diagnosed early.
Other experts say that the probability of children getting MIS-C in the second wave of the pandemic is higher.
According to a sero survey conducted in Pune, 70% of the children in the age-group of 6-12 years had Covid antibodies, which showed that they had been infected.
