Twenty children in the Netherlands have contracted a serious illness that appears to be related to COVID-19, NOS reports.
The illness seems to be a combination of two known diseases: the rare Kawasaki syndrome, and Toxic Shock Syndrome. It is thought to be caused by a child’s immune system overreacting to coronavirus, but the link is not fully confirmed yet.
In adults, this heavy-handed response from the immune system is also associated with coronavirus, and can often worsen the course of the disease. In the Netherlands, none of the children with this disease had any underlying health conditions.
Of the 20 children with this illness, only 10 have antibodies against coronavirus. However, these tests are not 100% accurate, so generally the whole situation needs more research before anything concrete connections can be drawn.
After this disease came to light worldwide about a month ago, the NVK asked all paediatricians to report the illness when they diagnosed it. From that, the NVK has compiled a report on the symptoms of this disease.
The disease is present in several countries worldwide, and in France and New York City in the US, children have died from it. In the Netherlands, no children have died from it, but it is also not known from this study how well they have recovered.
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