A new study published in the Lancet Journal has revealed that Covid-19 may be linked to young children developing symptoms that are similar to a rare inflammatory condition known as Kawasaki Disease.
The researchers, based in Italy’s Bergamo Province, stated that they discovered an increase in cases of young children with symptoms similar to the Kawasaki disease in the affected region.
They describe a series of 10 cases of young children with symptoms similar to the rare Kawasaki disease, appearing since the Covid-19 pandemic arose in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy.
“We noticed an increase in the number of children being referred to our hospital with an inflammatory condition similar to Kawasaki disease around the time the outbreak was taking hold in our region, “ said Dr Lucio Verdoni, an author of the study from the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo, Italy.
Dr Annalisa Gervasoni, another author of the study and a paediatric specialist at the hospital said: “In our experience, only a very small proportion of children with Covid-19 develop symptoms of Kawasaki Disease.