It is really something disturbing, because we have the feeling that it is linked to COVID. The increase is occurring in the context of the pandemic, said Dr. Élie Haddad. But so far, we haven’t found any formal evidence of infection in 16 of the 21 children.
Dr. Haddad and his colleagues only detected the presence of the coronavirus in five patients. The virus was found in the nasopharynx of one of them, while antibodies were present in the blood of four others.
Dr. Haddad makes no secret of being taken aback by these results. He and his colleagues therefore cross-checked them in four different ways, without changing anything. The negative results remained negative and the positive results remained positive.
It questions us because we really have the feeling that we see about three times more of this type of inflammatory syndrome, which resembles Kawasaki disease, […] than usual while the kids were locked up at home
he says.
According to what had been published by our Italian and English colleagues, we expected to find anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the majority of patients.
, continues the doctor.
French researchers, after the study of 172 patients, testified to a positive serology in 50% of the cases.
These results, however surprising they may be, do not send researchers back to square one, assures Dr. Haddad, since they contribute in their own way to the advancement of science and knowledge.
He recalled that there are still five patients in whom the virus has been detected. He and his colleagues will now be busy studying what potentially sets these patients apart from the rest.
We moved forward, we checked a box, and now we are faced with scientific questioning, he concludes. What does that mean? How is it that we see so many cases during a pandemic? And that among all these cases, there are ultimately few in whom we see antibodies present? We are looking for other explanations. This is what makes our job exciting
.
Usually more numerous
In late April, several European countries reported the onset of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a syndrome akin to the well-known Kawasaki disease. Many cases have also been reported in the United States and Canada.
As the reported cases of Kawasaki disease are generally much fewer, scientists immediately wondered if the syndrome was related to COVID-19.
SIME seems to affect children from 3 to 17 years old. It is characterized by one or more symptoms: manifestations of toxic or cardiac shock, abdominal pain and gastrointestinal problems, fever, pain in the toes and feet, or rashes.
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