Cases of ‘coronavirus-like’ syndrome affecting children in Mass.

BOSTON — The CDC sent out an alert on Thursday about the “Kawasaki-like” disease we first reported on last week.

Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital tell Boston 25 that children are now coming in with severe low blood pressure, and some even need to be resuscitated with fluids.

Last week we introduced you to nurse Nancy O’Connor’s son, Jake, who was 10 years old when he started swelling up, with bloodshot eyes and hives.

“The tongue swells up and it’s really red, then has white spots. It literally looked like a giant strawberry,” said O’Connor, who lives in the Plymouth area.

After days of being sick, O’Connor took her son to Boston Children’s Hospital. Fast forward to 2020, the CDC and Massachusetts Department of Public Health are now sending out an advisory to detail the symptoms and what to look for.

MORE: CDC issues advisory for Kawasaki-like inflammatory disease associated with COVID-19

There are now 9 known cases of Pediatric Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome across Massachusetts.

“So we don’t know what the prevalence is of the condition in Massachusetts yet. That’s why the public health order was so important because what was happening was the Department Public Health was calling our epidemiologists were calling the hospitals, but we wanted to put out what the conditions are,” said state Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.

Dr. Kevin Friedman is a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital who said they are seeing this mysterious illnesses in children and teenagers.

“Among kids that are exposed to COVID, it seems that children of Asian or Afro-Caribbean decent maybe at higher risk for developing this,” said Friedman.

Dr. C. Michael Gibson is a cardiologist at Beth Israel and a Harvard professor who first told you about the symptoms last week.

“The child develops a fever, red eyes, a red rash, sometimes red lips, red tongue, rarely in complications, they can develop complications in their arteries, like heart arteries,” said Gibson.

In New York, doctors reported at least 100 cases of this COVID-like syndrome. Similar cases are also popping up in the United Kingdom and Italy.

The good news is, doctors said, children are recovering within 2 weeks.

“We reiterate that this is extraordinarily rare and have seen very few cases,” said Friedman.

“There is something about the genetics in the people in the Northeast that may predispose them to the syndrome,” said Gibson.

Gibson also tells us, a similar disease like this popped up in 1995 in Connecticut, where there was a cluster of this. Right now, doctors say this is so new, they are trying to figure out what this disease is.

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RESOURCES:

- Massachusetts Coronavirus Information

- Boston Coronavirus Information

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