After wreaking havoc in India, the second wave of coronavirus pandemic has come under control. But, where coronavirus cases are declining, experts have warned authorities about an inevitable third wave. As per researchers and doctors, the third wave may hit India between August to September, which was earlier expected to come in October.
However, to battle with the next wave, the GoI has been vaccinating people and aimed to vaccinate the entire population above 18 by the end of this year. But, children are not being vaccinated yet. Covaxin is running trials on the vaccine for children but that will take time and the next wave is just a few steps away.
Analyzing the current situation, children will be a risk during the third wave, but, before the third wave strikes children who have recovered from coronavirus are being affected by a rare illness called MIS-C, Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrom in Children. As per worldwide studies, around 0.15 to 0.2 per cent of children have been affected by this syndrome post covid infection, that is one or two children in 1000 corona infected patients.
What is MIS-C
It is a health condition in which some organs or tissues like the heart, kidneys, lungs, brain, eyes, skin or gastrointestinal organs of a patient become inflamed. Its symptoms are very similar to Kawasaki disease.
The complications start to appear in children after 2-6 weeks of post-covid.
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Symptoms
Children with MIS may have fever up to 100.4 degrees F. Other symptoms of MIS-C include, severe abdominal pain, conjunctivitis- eyes turning red or pink, rashes on various parts of the body, poor feeding, nausea, vomiting. Breathing problems, inability to stay awake, feeling of irritability, neck pain, chest pain, swollen hands and legs are also the symptoms of MIS-C.
The symptoms further include pale, blue and grey-coloured lips, skin and nail beds.
Can adults get MIS-C?
From infants to 21 years old, anyone can have multisystem inflammatory syndrome. In other words, this condition mainly prevails in children and adolescents. However, since June 2020, there have been some reports of MIS in adults which is quite similar to MIS-C, though it has some different symptoms like low blood pressure, chest tightness, etc. The illness is more severe in adults than in children.
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What causes the illness
The actual cause of the syndrome remains unknown and even certain health conditions that can be responsible for it are not determined.
According to researchers, it can be an excessive immune response to coronavirus. They suspect that the antibodies made inside the body to fight coronavirus can cause MIS-C. Meanwhile, researchers tell another possibility can be a genetic factor as the numbers of children with MIS-C are too small.
Treatment
So far, there is no efficient treatment of MIS-C. The illness can be diagnosed based on symptoms.
During the treatment, signs of inflammation and coronavirus should be tested. Several tests such as echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, cardiac enzyme or troponin testing, and NT-proBNP can be performed.