Fortunately, most children who have COVID only have mild symptoms lasting a few days.
However, a very rare condition called Paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome or multisystem inflammatory syndrome( MIS-C) can affect children around 2 to 6 weeks after a COVID infection.
MIS-C is a serious condition but fortunately only affects around one in 3200 children who have had COVID.
This syndrome can happen in otherwise healthy children and even if the case of COVID is mild.
This syndrome can affect adults as well.
Children who have MIS-C almost always need treatment in hospital with anti-inflammatory therapies. Almost all do get better with hospital care.
Symptoms usually start 2 to 6 weeks after the COVID infection. The main symptoms are fever that persists, rash, tummy pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, red eyes, chest pain, racing heart, very drowsy or confused.
If your child becomes unwell 2-6 weeks after their COVID infection with any of these symptoms see a doctor and let them know your child previously had COVID.
We have enough evidence now to know that vaccination makes this syndrome much less likely in 12-18 year old’s and we expect to find the same protection for 5-11 years old’s.
Photo by christopher lemercier on Unsplash