Rare illness breaks out in kids
The link with COVID-19 has not yet been made plain, but there’s been an outbreak of Kawasaki syndrome noted by both Ste-Justine and by the Children’s. Wikipedia says it’s a rare disease – but maybe not any more.
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Kate
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Gerald 06:42 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
The wiki page mentions it is not spread between people and that it affects those who are genetically predisposed, mostly those of Asian descent. So not sure if the word outbreak is warranted.
Kate 08:58 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
If something normally tagged a rare disease is showing up suddenly at both children’s hospitals, I think “outbreak” is a fair word to use.
If you read the Wikipedia article, you’ll see that by no means all the afflicted are of Asian descent, and there may be environmental reasons the condition is seen more commonly in Japan (and not all of Asia, as you suggest).
Blork 09:17 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
I have seen reports of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) showing up in COVID-19 patients in Europe. That’s a rare autoimmune disease that is sometimes linked to respiratory or digestive infections, as well as (gasp!) vaccines. (I am absolutely not an anti-vaxxer, but pro-vax people need to acknowledge that vaccines are not without risk, and this is one of them, although the risk is very low.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain%E2%80%93Barr%C3%A9_syndrome
Kate 09:28 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
GBS is also rare, but I know two people who’ve had it (well before COVID-19). Both came very close to dying, one still has lingering problems and can’t work. It’s no joke.
Blork 10:08 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
Indeed. Rare and nasty, although most people fully recover eventually.
The report I saw talks about five cases of GBS in hospitals in Northern Italy.
https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/home/topics/covid19/covid-19-may-be-a-new-causative-agent-of-neuromuscular-autoimmune-disease/
Alison Cummins 16:04 on 2020-05-07 Permalink
Blork,
Yes, GBS sometimes occurs when the immune system has been activated recently. Infections do that and so do vaccines.
I think the attitude you need to take if you develop it in response to a vaccine is that you would have gotten it in response to the vaccine-preventable infection anyway. It’s not a net-new.