NEW ORLEANS — As the world tries to contain the Coronavirus, health officials are noticing a rise in a COVID-related illness specifically targeting children.
"The pattern we're seeing seems to follow what other big cities are seeing, including Seattle, especially New York and Washington D.C.," said John Schieffelin, M.D. of Tulane School of Medicine. "Where about three weeks after the peak of cases we saw quite a number of MIS-C cases."
Called Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, it causes children's organs like their heart, brain, eyes and lungs to inflame. Many kids will recover. However, there are times where their organs will fail.
"From our experience so far, certainly less than half, or probably two-thirds of these children we see stay on the regular floor, they don't need to go to the ICU and they get better on their own," Schieffelin said.
In May, we spoke with 12-year-old Juliet Daly, who'd been diagnosed with MIS-C. It caused impending kidney and liver failures, and she suffered two heart attacks. However, she survived.
"Like I said, we were only going to do as well as she did," said Sean Daly, her father.
"And I did pretty well," Juliet said.
Daly is one of Louisiana's 44 confirmed cased, and one of 570 cases nationwide. According to the CDC, there've also been 10 deaths, 4 of which happened in Louisiana.
"It feels like we're seeing another little rise in the number of MIS-C cases, but as a state, we're seeing another peak," Schieffelin said.
Medical professionals are still learning about the condition, and it's relation to COVID-19.
"We're always very cautious to say this causes that," Schieffelin said. "There is clearly an association. We're still trying to figure out what it is and it is a big spectrum of illness."
And while rare in kids, it does happen. Which is why they're telling parents to not panic, but instead get informed.
"It's still a very rare disease or condition," Schieffelin said. "Of all the kids who get infected with COVID-19, it's very much a minority of children who develop this MIS-C."
Symptoms parents can look for include fever, red eyes, red, puffy lips, swelling mostly in the hands and feet and rash. To help the spread of the disease you can wear a mask and maintain social distance.
For more information go to the CDC's website by clicking here.