Delhi: 8-year-old girl develops multisystem inflammatory syndrome; had tested Covid negative

New Delhi, Jun 24: An eight-year-old girl here, who was a suspected case of COVID-19, developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a post-Covid complication that can manifest three to six weeks after the infection, hospital authorities said on Thursday.

Early detection of MIS-C is important to control mortalities. It is an unregulated hyper immune response typically found in children as a reaction to inflammation in the body, doctors said.

"The child was brought to Apollo hospital here early June. Her condition was critical with low levels of blood pressure, oxygen and dipping pulse rate.

While she had tested negative for COVID-19, she was detected with high levels of Covid antibodies making her a case of MIS-C," the hospital said in a statement. She was a suspected asymptomatic case of COVID-19, a spokesperson of the hospital said.

"Because of her very high ventilator requirements and low oxygen saturations we decided to immediately put her on ECMO support. She improved gradually and it was only after a week that she could be taken off ECMO support," Dr Nameet Jerath, senior consultant, pediatric intensive care, said.

MIS-C, a post-Covid complication, can manifest three to six weeks after asymptomatic or symptomatic infection, and early detection is important to control mortalities, she said. Dr Muthu Jyothi, senior consultant, pediatric cardiology, at the hospital, said, "If MIS-C is not identified and treated quickly, the condition of the patient can deteriorate within hours and make it life-threatening." It can develop in children who had no serious COVID-19 symptoms, the doctor said.

"We brought her in an ambulance while being on ventilator to ensure the situation does not degrade further, threatening her life," Jyothi said. While the reported severity of Covid in children has been mild, a few cases of severe manifestations and post-Covid complications have been reported.

These complications range from mild manifestations of extreme fatigue, body and joint pain and fever, to some severe health conditions, and MIS-C and acute respiratory distress being the two most common ones, the hospital authorities said.

After complaining of high grade fever, abdomen pain, vomiting and persistent headache for a week, the young girl had been admitted to a local hospital where her condition had deteriorated to acute respiratory distress. She was then referred to the pediatric team of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals here, the statement said.