No panic, but still, a minimum of attention. This is what emerges from this study conducted by the general pediatrics department of the Robert Debré Hospital in Paris; the results of which were published on Monday 20 July. In summary: there is a “fairly clear” link between Kawasaki ‘s disease and Covid-19.
The department cites as proof the number of admissions of children for Kawasaki disease; which jumped by 497% two weeks after the epidemic peak of the new coronavirus in April; whereas the hospital had only received 230 patients for the same reasons in 2005 and 2020. “We were able to carry out a study that tried to assess the frequency of Kawasaki disease in children hospitalized at Robert Debré over a period of 15 years;” says Albert Faye, head of the pediatrics department at the Robert Debré Hospital. The pediatrician points out that the disease is “well known in pediatrics” and that it can be treated “in general with essentially immunoglobulins”.
“It is necessary to put things into perspective”.
With Covid-19, however, children can develop a more “marked” form with digestive problems, abdominal pain, and even inflammation of the heart muscle and pericardium. Reactions that doctors also manage to control with corticosteroids, says the pediatrician. And severe forms of the disease, in connection with Covid-19, “remain very rare”. In his department, the pediatrician no longer notes “Kawasaki disease related to Covid. And overall, compared to the very large number of adults who have been hospitalized for Covid-related complications; there have been very few children hospitalized for either Covid-related complications or Kawasaki disease. We have to put this into perspective.
Relate but not ignore. “We don’t know everything. This epidemic has taught us that we must be very humble in the face of this new disease;” acknowledges the head of the department, who invites parents of children affected by Kawasaki disease to be on the lookout for certain warning signs. “It is a very tired child who has prolonged fever (4 or 5 days of fever), digestive problems, a rash that appears. “Any sign-in that sense “should lead to consulting,” adds the pediatrician.
Source: La VDN
