Vigilance. The Minister of Health assured Wednesday on Franceinfo take "very seriously" the appearance in France of cases of children affected by a serious inflammatory disease, stressing that there was not yet enough evidence to make a link with the new coronavirus.
British health officials have launched an alert in recent days about an increase in the number of children with symptoms resembling Kawasaki disease, a vascular syndrome affecting young children, the cause of which remains unknown.
But cases have also been reported in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, as well as in France, said Olivier Véran. "This is an alert I received from Parisian teams," he said, reporting in Paris "about fifteen children of all ages."
Fever, digestive disorders and vascular inflammation
They present "symptoms of fever, digestive symptoms and a fairly general vascular inflammation which can cause heart failure", but "to my knowledge no child fortunately died of these complications which are fairly rare diseases which can accompany inflammation of the heart ”.
Some of these children "in France as in England, but not all, have proved to be carriers of the coronavirus", said the minister again, referring to "a certain concern and a certain vigilance".
"I take this very, very seriously. We have absolutely no medical explanation at this point. Is it an inflammatory reaction that triggers a preexisting disease in children affected by this virus or another infectious disease? There are many questions ”.
No questioning of the reopening of schools
"I mobilize the healthcare and scientific community in France and abroad to have the maximum amount of data possible to see if there is reason to make a link between the coronavirus and this form which until now had been observed zero share, ”he added, as this new coronavirus keeps on holding bad surprises.
Asked about the planned reopening of schools from May 11, in light of these new elements, the minister recalled that Covid-19 had little impact on children and that the serious cases concerned children with underlying diseases.
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As for the new cases, "I do not have medical information at this stage concerning these children in France and England to know if they themselves were carriers of underlying diseases or not", declared the minister .