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Children are at risk for syndrome that would be associated with covid-19 2:16
(CNN) - The coronavirus pandemic has been linked in a new study to a higher incidence of an inflammatory syndrome among children in Italy, and researchers warn that similar outbreaks of this rare but serious disease can be expected in other nations.
The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal The Lancet, found that cases of the syndrome appeared to increase 30-fold in the Italian province of Bergamo shortly after the coronavirus pandemic spread across the region.
The syndrome, now known as multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, resembles another childhood condition known as Kawasaki disease.
Children would not be so immune to coronavirus 0:27Dr. Lucio Verdoni of the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo and his colleagues studied the cases of children diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in the hospital between January 1, 2015 and April 20, 2020.
The patients were divided into two groups: one group represented those diagnosed in the five years prior to the coronavirus pandemic and the second group, those diagnosed after covid-19 hit the region.
The data showed that the incidence rate for diagnoses of Kawasaki disease was approximately 0.3 per month before the coronavirus pandemic, and then 10 per month between March and April this year, a very large increase.
Recognize the symptoms of multi-system inflammatory syndrome 1:57"Outbreaks of Kawasaki-like disease could occur in countries affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and could occur outside of the classic phenotype of Kawasaki disease," the researchers wrote in the study.
"This condition could be serious and requires a quicker and more aggressive approach," they added. "Future research into the cause of Kawasaki disease and similar syndromes should focus on immune responses to viral triggers."
Kawasaki disease involves inflammation of the walls of the median arteries and can damage the heart. The new syndrome also involves inflammation, but infectious disease experts say it is different from Kawasaki disease. Symptoms include persistent fever, inflammation, and poor function in one or more organs.
Dr. Jeffrey Burns of Boston Children's Hospital and other experts told CNN on Wednesday that the condition appears to be a post-viral syndrome that can develop several weeks after a covid-19 infection.
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