Mystery child illness possibly linked to coronavirus also in Netherlands
Six countries have launched a investigation into a mysterious illness that has landed nearly a hundred children in hospital and ICU. In the Netherlands too a number of children are in intensive care with this possibly new disease that seems to mainly affect children, immunologist Taco Kuijpers of Amsterdam UMC confirmed to NU.nl. Experts theorize that this illness may be linked to Covid-19, partly because of the timing, but that has not yet been proven.
In the United Kingdom, several children have died from the effects of the disease, health minister Matt Hancock confirmed earlier this week. France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United States also recorded cases of children suffering from this disease, though no deaths have been confirmed in those countries. The young patients often suffered from severe abdominal, stomach and intestinal symptoms, accompanied by a high fever. Some also had heart and lung problems.
The reason some experts are searching for the cause of this disease in the coronavirus, has to do with the timing and the fact that some of the children also tested positive for the virus. Many children had fevers, a common symptom for Covid-19. There are therefore theories that this may be a newly discovered consequence of the coronavirus in children. But a number of children who have this new disease also tested negative for the coronavirus.
At Amsterdam UMC, the "striking link between the disease presentation and the coronavirus" could not yet be confirmed, Kuijpers said to the newspaper. According to Kuijpers, the main question is whether this is a new or existing disease. The symptoms are similar to Kawasaki disease, but the total clinical picture is a rare phenomenon.
Doctors in the Netherlands are widely aware of this mysterious child illness and are on the lookout for any children presenting with these symptoms. "The news spread like wildfire," Kuijpers said to the newspaper.
