Children’s Mercy in KC sees rise in post-COVID multi-system inflammatory syndrome cases
The number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 has been declining at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, but there has been an increase in cases of the rare post-COVID multi-system inflammatory syndrome, doctors said Thursday.
The hospital reported that it had 22 patients that have tested positive for COVID, including six in the ICU, said Dr. Jennifer Watts, Children’s Mercy’s chief emergency management medical officer.
At the peak of the omicron surge, the number of hospitalizations had been running in the middle to upper 30s. In the last week or so, hospitalizations have dropped into the 20s more consistently, she said.
“However, we are also seeing an increase of MIS-C, which is the multi-inflammatory response post-COVID,” Watts said.
The condition generally appears four to six weeks after a COVID infection, said Dr. Angela Myers, the hospital’s infectious diseases division director.
“The (COVID) infection itself can be very mild or even asymptomatic, but yet you can still develop this huge inflammatory responsible a few weeks later which can affect the liver, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys,” she said.
Kids can also develop a rash or have high spiking fevers. The latest increase is due to the surge in COVID cases from the omicron variant.
The last time the hospital had cases of the condition this high was a year ago prior to the availability of vaccines, Myers said. The hospital didn’t see an increase in cases during a surge in COVID cases related to the delta variant.
“But we are seeing it again,” she said. “I think it’s an important thing to remember that even though a young child might not have significant symptoms with COVID infection, they are at risk for developing this multi-system inflammatory syndrome later.”
Pfizer and BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration this week to expand the use of their COVID-19 vaccine for children age 6 months up to 5 years. The data that they have submitted is for two doses, but Myers said she believes ultimately it would be three doses.
“They are seeking authorization to go ahead and get started immunizing kids with the first two doses of the Pfizer vaccine at that dose for the younger age group while they continue to study the third dose and the immune response to that third dose,” Myers said. The company would then go back to the FDA to get authorization for the third dose.
Most childhood vaccines take multiple doses to take effect, so this isn’t unheard of, she said. Doctors anticipate needing to educate parents about the vaccine and answering questions to alleviate any fears. There will be the initial group of parents who will want to get their young children vaccinated right away, but that will slow over time.
“My hope is that by the younger kids getting authorized soon that we can have a renewed effort to get those 5- through 11-year-olds immunized as well,” Myers said. Children’s Mercy is part of Pfizer’s clinical trial for the young children.
Myers said she’s excited by the possibility that the vaccine will become available for the young children.
“This is going to be one more thing to help us keep COVID at lower levels,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to be gone, but keep it at lower levels and to get back to doing more of those normal things in life that we want to do.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas will seek to extend mandatory mask-wearing in schools Thursday, something that Myers said she supports.
“The best place for kids to be is in school all day, every day and masking helps them stay in school,” she said.
