JUDY WOODRUFF: While just a small percentage of the children infected with this coronavirus
get seriously ill, researchers are now learning about a new potentially dangerous syndrome
in young people that seems to be caused by the virus.
In more than 100 cases in New York and 60-plus across Europe, young people have developed
an inflammatory response similar to what's known as Kawasaki disease. It's led to concerns
that we still don't fully understand the full impact that COVID is having on young people.
William Brangham gets some answers about what is known.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For more on this syndrome, I talked with someone who is both seeing and
treating patients with this syndrome.
Dr. Jane Newburger is a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children's Hospital, and she's also
a member of the Young Hearts Council of The American Heart Association.
Dr. Newburger, thank you very much for being here.
First off, could you just help us understand, what is this syndrome that you're seeing in
your young patients?
DR. JANE NEWBURGER, Boston Children's Hospital: So, this new Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory
Syndrome strikes children...
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's the technical term for it, you were saying.
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: Yes.
It strikes individuals who are under 21 years of age. And it's manifested by either an extreme
inflammatory response and by at least one organ, often two or more, that are not functioning
properly because of the inflammatory milieu.
To have it, you can't have another explanation than your recent exposure to COVID-19. So
you must have either current evidence of COVID-19 from a nasal swab for SARS-CoV-2 or evidence
much more often of a recent infection because you were antibody positive, or else you need
to have been exposed closely to somebody who had COVID-19 in the past four weeks.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I see.
Do we know why coronavirus is causing this syndrome?
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: We think it's causing this syndrome as a kind of immunologic reaction.
In other words, it doesn't seem to be related to an acute infection with COVID -- with SARS-CoV-2,
but much more related to the body's immune response to having been exposed to that virus.
And so one has a tremendous inflammatory response to the trigger, really, that is the virus.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And what is the outcome, generally speaking, for the kids, for the
young people who develop this syndrome?
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: Well, we think parents can be very optimistic if a child does develop
this syndrome.
With careful -- careful support and the right medications, the majority of children seem
to be recovering very well. It is a new wave of illness that we still are characterizing.
So we don't -- we don't have big statistics or reliable numbers that we can give people
yet.
But, very quickly, people are gathering their cases, and we're hoping that every child or
teen who has this illness is logged into a registry of some sort, so that we can provide
very quantitative information in the future.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Can you help us put this in perspective?
I mean, my just quick back-of-the-envelope calculation is that this is affecting a relatively
small number of the children who we believe who have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. So help
us weigh -- for the parents who might be out there hearing about this, seeing this in the
news, how worried should parents be, given how few cases we seem to see of this?
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: This is a very rare reaction or phenomenon compared to all the children
who've been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
I wouldn't be extremely worried as a parent. I think you can be reassured that the vast
majority of children have either no symptoms or very mild symptoms in response to the virus.
So, very few children are having this new syndrome.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Let's assume that there are parents who do worry their child might
have been exposed to the virus.
Are there symptoms particularly of this syndrome that they ought to be on the lookout for?
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: Yes.
So if a child has fever and seems inflamed, with a rash, red eyes, red lips, any signs
of what we call Kawasaki disease, and if they have G.I. symptoms as well, which seem to
be very, very common, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, they should be in contact
with their primary caregiver or their pediatrician.
If the child really seems sick, in a sense -- the way that a parent's sixth sense tells
you, and they don't seem responsive or their color doesn't seem right, then they should
go to a hospital, if they're worried.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is all some very, very helpful advice amidst a lot of confusion and
nervousness and fright on a lot of parents' part.
Dr. Jane Newburger, thank you very much for being here.
DR. JANE NEWBURGER: Thank you.