Nine Georgia children have severe new illness linked to COVID-19, state health department says
Nine children in Georgia are confirmed to have a new and severe inflammatory illness associated with the novel coronavirus.
Nancy Nydam, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health, said in an email Friday that all nine cases were confirmed this week. However, the illnesses occurred over the last several months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finalized a case definition for the condition last week.
The state has identified 15 possible cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Of those, nine were confirmed to have the illness. Three did not, and another three remain under review. The age of the patients ranges from young children to early teens, Nydam said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported the news Thursday, and state health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey spoke briefly about the new illness during a press conference that afternoon.
“That’s something we had to start reporting just now, because it was never recognized before,” she said.
The state health department declined to say which Georgia counties the children live in, and said confirmed cases will be reported to the CDC.
“Due to the rarity of this illness and the very small number of cases at this time, DPH cannot release additional information or specific case information,” Nydam said. “DPH will report to the CDC, but they are still working with states on the details of that reporting process.”
The illness was first seen by clinicians in the United Kingdom who reported children showing symptoms for “a severe inflammatory syndrome” with features that resembled Kawasaki disease, a condition that causes inflation in blood vessels. Earlier this month, New York health officials began receiving reports of children with MIS-C, the CDC reports.
According to the CDC, MIS-C is a condition where body parts such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs can become inflamed.
Some symptoms of MIS-C include:
Fever
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Neck pain
Rash
Bloodshot eyes
Feeling tired
The CDC recommends you seek emergency care for your child if they have any of the following:
Trouble breathing
Pain or pressure in the chest that does not go away
New confusion
Inability to wake or stay awake
Bluish lips or face
Severe abdominal pain
“We do not yet know what causes MIS-C. However, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19,” according to the CDC. “MIS-C can be serious, even deadly, but most children who were diagnosed with this condition have gotten better with medical care.”
Not all of those who are ill will have the same symptoms. It’s unclear if the condition is specific to children or if MIS-C can occur in adults, the CDC said in a health warning issued last week.
But the Washington Post reports that doctors are seeing the illness in a few young adults. They are having more severe symptoms involving the heart and multiple organs, Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at NYU Langone, told the newspaper.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Nine Georgia children have severe new illness linked to COVID-19, state health department says."