Parents told to look out for MIS-C in children with prior infection to Covid-19

Parents have been advised to be on the lookout for symptoms that may be due to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with Covid-19 and which usually appears 4-6 weeks after coronavirus infection.

In cases when a child that has recently been ill with Covid-19 develops a high fever, parents should immediately contact their doctor, according to Vana Papaevangelou, professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a member of the government’s experts committee.

Indicatively, a study by pediatrics professor Maria Tsolia showed that by the end of 2021, 119 children with this syndrome had been hospitalized in Greece, with a median age of 8 years. Two out of 10 children had to be admitted to an ICU. There were also several cases of myocarditis and other heart complications. MIS-C is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

Experts reportedly expect that there will be more cases related to this syndrome as a result of the Omicron variant that peaked eight weeks ago.

The data provided Thursday by Papaevangelou, Alternate Health Minister Mina Gaga and assistant professor of epidemiology Gikas Magiorkinis, showed that the pandemic in Greece has stabilized at a high level, with the virus having spread significantly. Tellingly, 1.5% of the population today is infected.

Mathematical models suggest that the number of intubated patients will drop to 450 in the next 15 days.

Health authorities Thursday confirmed 19,154 new cases of Covid-19 and an additional 93 deaths, while 516 patients were intubated. In addition, in the last week, an additional 29 cases of the Omicron-2 subtype were identified.