For example, children can develop MIS-C, says immunologist Emmeline Buddingh of the Leiden University Medical Center. That is a violent inflammatory reaction that occurs a month after a corona infection. “It’s really very rare, but it can happen. In principle, healthy children then get a crazy inflammatory reaction that can affect all kinds of organs of the body.”
According to Buddingh, children then get stomach complaints, such as diarrhea or that they have to vomit. “Sometimes the heart muscle is also inflamed and the children end up in the ICU as a result.” It is estimated that about 200 children in the Netherlands have developed MIS-C after a corona infection. Calculations show that one in 5,000 children eventually develops MIS-C after being infected.
Bruising
Vayenna is one of the children who suffered from an inflammatory reaction after being infected. That was intense, says her mother Petra from Zwijndrecht. “She became infected with corona and had the flu for a week. She then recovered: on Friday she was free of complaints, she went to the petting zoo on the weekend and went to the playgroup on Monday. In the afternoon things went a bit wrong: she got severe diarrhoea, had to vomit and wanted to go to bed early. At night I was startled awake by choking noises.”
When she got to her bedroom, Petra saw that her daughter had bruises on her face, foaming around her mouth and that her eyes had turned away. “The fever had also risen to 41.7 degrees and her breathing had started to stop. I immediately called 911. She was rushed to the hospital and admitted. It might have looked different if I hadn’t woken up.”
‘Rare, but does happen’
In total, Vayenna has been hospitalized nine times with various complaints, such as a high heart rate, bad breathing, double pneumonia or abdominal pain and diarrhea. “You don’t know when it will end,” her mother says. “When will it get better?” Petra and her daughter still have not been able to get an answer to that. She therefore advises other parents to have their children vaccinated. “Just watch your kids. It’s rare, but it does happen.”
Immunologist Buddingh says research shows that vaccination appears to protect against MIS-C. “We don’t see a single vaccinated child in the research we’re doing on MIS-C. Also signals abroad, research by French colleagues, show that the number of children with MIS-C has decreased enormously due to vaccination.”
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