New COVID-19 complications in children
- 07 July, 2020
- 05:56
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Specialists of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children conducted studies on complications of COVID-19 in children, Report says, citing Jama Neurology.
In a case series of 4 children with COVID-19 and neurological symptoms, all four patients had signal changes in the splenium of the corpus callosum on neuroimaging and required intensive care admission for the treatment of COVID-19 pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
Children with COVID-19 may present with new neurological symptoms involving both the central and peripheral nervous system and splenial changes on imaging in the absence of respiratory symptoms; this diagnosis should be considered within the differential diagnosis of splenial lesions.
Of the 27 children with COVID-19 pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, four patients (14.8%) who were previously healthy had new-onset neurological symptoms. Symptoms included encephalopathy, headaches, brainstem, and cerebellar signs, muscle weakness, and reduced reflexes. All four patients required intensive care unit admission for the treatment of COVID-19 pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Splenium signal changes were seen in all four patients on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain.
COVID-19, which is caused by the highly pathogenic virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has since become a worldwide pandemic infecting more than 9 million people (as of mid-June 2020). In adults, COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic infection to severe respiratory failure. Data so far suggest that children and young adults are less likely to become severely ill than older adults.1