More Evidence Links Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome to SARS-CoV-2

Dr. Brian McCrindle of The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, who co-authored a linked editorial, tells Reuters Health by email, “The PIMS patients had a lot of similar features to the Kawasaki disease patients, but the pattern of different laboratory abnormalities and the higher prevalence and greater severity of cardiac complications are different from Kawasaki disease. These differences will be helpful to clinicians in be alert for PIMS when faced with a patient with Kawasaki disease-like features.”³

“These PIMS patients tend to respond to the same anti-inflammatory medications used to treat Kawasaki disease, together with supportive care, although they may require more medication and a longer course, and take longer to recover,” he says.

Dr. Levin did not respond to a request for comments.

References

1. Whittaker E, Bamford A, Kenny J, et al. Clinical characteristics of 58 children with a pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2. JAMA. 2020 Jun 8;e2010369. Online ahead of print.
2. Cheung EW, Zachariah P, Gorelik M, et al. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome related to COVID-19 in previously healthy children and adolescents in New York City. JAMA. 2020 Jun 8;e2010374. Online ahead of print.
3. McCrindle BW, Manlhiot C. SARS-CoV-2-related inflammatory multisystem syndrome in children: Different or shared etiology and pathophysiology as Kawasaki disease? JAMA. 2020 Jun 8. Online ahead of print.