Home » Health » Serious illness in children and Covid-19: the Directorate-General for Health says that it is “vigilant”

Serious illness in children and Covid-19: the Directorate-General for Health says that it is “vigilant”

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While the concern of parents and certain health professionals is growing following serious forms close to Kawasaki disease detected in children, the Minister of Health said he was “on the alert”. An expert meeting was urgently convened this Wednesday at 6 p.m. In Toulouse, no case was observed. We take stock.

It was thought that the youngest were spared by the Covid-19. But since this weekend, the concern has grown. The United Kingdom first alerted to atypical and serious forms close to Kawasaki disease noticed in children, some of whom tested positive for Covid-19. This Tuesday, French pediatricians were sounding the alarm in the Dispatch from the South, revealing that around twenty cases had been observed on French territory, especially in Ile-de-France.

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This Wednesday, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health confirms this abnormal accumulation of syndromes: “On the Parisian alert, the English, Spanish, Italian alert, there are a certain number of situations of cardiac inflammations, inflammations arterial “. He is reminded of 15 children in France who “present a disease which resembles what is called Kawasaki disease”. “Like any alert, we take it very seriously,” he added, adding that “pediatricians in the eurozone are working to see whether or not there is a link to Covid-19” .

A “possibly abnormal accumulation”

For its part, the Directorate General of Health also notes a “possibly abnormal accumulation of Kawasaki diseases observed by certain researchers and doctors in France and abroad “, specifying that it is” probably not another presentation of Covid-19 “. Most likely according to the DGS: that children, “following contact with the coronavirus develop Kawasaki disease in the long term”. “The Directorate General of Health therefore remains vigilant and in permanent contact with researchers, learned societies and the national public health agency on this subject, “said the press release.

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Concerned by health professionals, the concern is growing. “We received 5 patients, children and adolescents, who presented symptoms resembling Kawasaki disease, problem, today no test exists to confirm that it is indeed this disease but the association of signs is quite suggestive “, explains doctor Isabelle Melky, pediatrician at Robert Debré hospital in Paris. These atypical forms of the disease continue to question: “Generally, it affects children aged 5 and in recent days we have received older children, some were even adolescents aged 15”.

Effective treatment

Some of these patients presented respiratory attacks, which are not characteristic of Kawasaki disease but rather of Covid-19 according to this specialist. Another problem: the difficulty of identifying the microbes responsible for these aggravations. “We have not yet managed to highlight it, we find microbes other than those of Covid-19 on our patients,” said the pediatrician.

According to the first evidence available to health professionals, children who could develop these serious forms are those who may have an immune deficiency. None of the children who contracted this form had a medical history or chronic illness. “We have the impression that the inflammatory response is disproportionate, it may be a sign that the immune system is out of balance,” says the pediatrician.

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Should parents worry? “No, for the moment there are not many cases and all the young patients have been cured,” reassures the pediatrician. Multipurpose immunoglobulins have also been infused, a treatment generally used to treat Kawasaki disease. No deaths have been reported.

No case in Toulouse

At the children’s hospital in Purpan, Isabelle Claudet, head of the pediatric emergency department, wants to put things into perspective: “Despite the agitation and concern, it must be kept in mind that this disease is rare, serious forms only develop in 0.5% of cases, and what’s more, this disease is already known to the health services. ” No case was observed in Toulouse whereas during the H1N1 epidemic, patients with severe forms close to Kawasaki disease had appeared. “During this epidemic, we had received 20 patients in three months, that’s double the patients we receive in a year,” she recalls. According to the specialist, this aggravation which resembles Kawasaki disease is not specific to the Coronavirus but to all viral epidemics.

Faced with the risk, the specialists decided to meet as an “emergency” this Wednesday at 6 pm by videoconference. About twenty doctors and researchers will be present to take stock of the situation and decide on the procedure to follow. The society of cardiology, pediatric resuscitation, pediatric cardiology, pediatric rheumatology and a group of pediatric infectiologists responded. “It is a question of establishing a balance of possibilities and organizing ourselves for the future to understand these situations of inflammation and manage them as best as possible”, explains doctor Alexandre Belot, rheumatologist and pediatrician at the hospital, mother and child. In Lyon.

What is Kawasaki disease?

It is a rare inflammatory disease that develops in children, the causes of which are still unclear. But what the specialists know it is that this disease already known from the health services could be favored by a viral infection. “We must suspect Kawasaki disease in a child with a fever, over 39.5 ° C for more than five days and not reduced by paracetamol,” said the Directorate General of Health. It is a rare condition, approximately 1 in 10,000 children is affected, possibly serious, but for which treatment is available. Symptoms are: fever, rash, redness in the mouth, swollen glands, hands or feet and red eyes. With good care, healing is most of the time complete in 2 months.


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