What happens when a child develops MIS-C? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, abbreviated MIS-C, appears to be on the rise in the US. Aaron Milstone, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, says the syndrome may sneak up in unpredictable ways.

Milstone: We have a lot of people come in and they don’t understand why their kid is sick. And we say well was anyone sick a month ago? And they say ug, yeah, Covid ran through our house I was sick, my partner was sick, our other kids was sick and this child was fine, and here they are a month later in the hospital, in the intensive care unit. We’re trying to make it very clear that this MIS-C is a post infectious process. It’s associated with Covid, meaning that when kids come in we don’t think that they’re really at risk of spreading the virus at that point, they’ve already cleared the infection and now their body is just still going a little bit crazy responding to that prior viral infection.   :33

Milstone says seeking medical care promptly is important, so if you suspect your child may be exhibiting symptoms of MIS-C, bring them in right away. He notes that suspicions should definitely be raised if there’s been a history of Covid infection in the family. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.