Noida: MIS cases see spike among kids exposed to Covid-19

NOIDA: More than 30 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) have been reported in Noida and Ghaziabad recently with doctors saying some patients require critical care and had mild Covid symptoms.
In the past 10 days, a sudden spike has been noticed and over 250 cases have been detected across Delhi-NCR. “From the time the pandemic struck to August last year, we recorded 120 cases in NCR.But these were spread out and one or two cases were being reported in a few weeks. But there has been a sudden spike in the past 10 days and it has caught us by surprise,” said Dr Dhiren Gupta, paediatric intensivist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
“There is no centralised database for this disease and we are trying to collect data from all paediatricians attached to big hospitals. Since we don’t have exact calculations, we can say that the numbers are about 25% less than the actual figure in Delhi- NCR,” he added.
Dr Gupta said according to information received till Monday, there were about 120 cases in Delhi, 90 in Gurgaon, more than 30 cases in Noida and Ghaziabad and eight cases in Faridabad. Some children admitted to Delhi and Noida hospitals are from Gwalior and Agra, he added. MIS-C is characterised by inflammation in organs like the heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs. The symptoms include high fever for more than three days, rashes, swelling of hands and feet, redness of eyes, abdominal pain, vomiting and difficulty in breathing. These are being noticed two-six weeks after a child has been exposed to the coronavirus. In some cases, children had mild symptoms of Covid.
Dr Ashutosh Sinha, paediatric intensivist, Fortis Hospital, Noida, said during the first Covid wave, they hardly had any MIS-C cases. “We just had literature from countries like the USA and UK where some cases were reported. But there are several cases now and the symptoms are varied. We need to conduct different tests on different patients to confirm it,” he said. MIS-C is mostly being detected among children between five and 15 years and there are a few cases among infants and toddlers as well. Experts say parents need to be careful as early detection is important. While most patients have mild symptoms, some children need critical care because of late detection.
Dr Devender Chhonker, paediatric intensivist, Jaypee Hospital, Noida, said Covid cases among children have been higher this time. “So, some post-Covid complications were expected. The silver lining is that we are seeing almost 100% recovery after using a combination of steroids and IVIG depending on the severity of cases.”
Intravenous immunoglob- ulin is also administered to patients with Kawasaki disease (mainly seen among children and symptoms include fever). Dr Gupta said they have submitted a report to the Supreme Court task force mentioning that states should have adequate stock of essential drugs.