by Ira B Taub MD, FAAP, FACC
My name is Ira Taub and I am a pediatrician who specializes in heart disease in the young. I am writing to inform the community about a COVID19 related condition called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). This condition, first described less than a year ago, can cause serious damage to the heart, often resulting in hospitalization and sometimes in serious or fatal complications. While MIS-C is very rare, there have been over 2,000 cases and 30 deaths reported to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) since the pandemic began. Fortunately, there are effective treatments for MIS-C – I regularly see children who have recovered and are B”H doing fine.
I am writing this message right now (early March 2021) because MIS-C is a post-infectious condition. That is, it usually occurs over a month after infection with the virus that causes COVID19, and in many cases patients had few or no symptoms while they were actually infected. With the current surge in COVID19 cases in our community, it is possible that we will see cases of MIS-C sometime during or after Pesach.
If your child has been sick for more than a few days and is not getting better- particularly if he or she has fever, abdominal pain, vomiting or an unusual rash – please contact your family’s primary care doctor right away. It does not matter if there has been a positive test for COVID19 or any known exposure. For my information about MIS-C, please see the CDC website here:https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/children/mis-c.html.
Wishing the community good health and a chag kasher v’samayach.
Ira B Taub MD, FAAP, FACC
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