Researchers are now saying a syndrome discovered in children during the coronavirus pandemic is new and distinct from Kawasaki’s Disease and may be linked to coronavirus.

One child described the pain as “a throbbing, stinging rush” through his body. Dr. Anu Seshadri, a pediatrician at UCLA Health, tells Inside the Issues, this is something known as pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome, also known as PMIS or MIS-C, and is different from Kawasaki’s Disease. 

Seshadri said Kawasaki’s Disease is a conglomeration of symptoms that include prolonged fever that results in inflammation of medium-sized vessels, or arteries, in the body. The disease can also lead to a weakening of the heart wall that leads to dilation. Among other symptoms of Kawasaki’s, which can affect every single part of the body, include a rash, cracked, dry lips, red or inflamed eyes, inflamed hands, feet that are red or even swollen, and abdominal pain. She said someone with PMIS, or MIS-C, will have a spectrum of symptoms.

“It can also be as severe as a toxic-shock-like syndrome, which includes Kawasaki type symptoms plus extreme decrease in your blood pressure, to the point where children are in shock, and include a rash as well,” she said. “Again, it's a spectrum so that's why this is different compared to Kawaski’s Disease in particular.”

Anu said there was evidence of a correlation between PMIS and COVID-19. Children with symptoms of PMIS have tested positive for either COVID-19 PCR, which means that they're actively infectious, or that they have had an infection in the past and they are antibody positive.

“Is COVID-19 the exact cause to why children are developing this syndrome? That still needs to be further ascertained and investigated, but as of right now we know that there is a correlation, or an association,” she said.

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