Life (Mar 2023)

Severe Course of COVID-19 and Long-COVID-19 in Children: Difficulties in Diagnosis

  • Elena Vasichkina,
  • Olga Kofeynikova,
  • Svetlana Fetisova,
  • Anastasia Y. Starshinova,
  • Elizaveta Sheyanova,
  • Tatiana Vershinina,
  • Anton Ryzhkov,
  • Aleksey Skripnik,
  • Daria Alekseeva,
  • Elizaveta Nechaeva,
  • Anzhela Glushkova,
  • Dmitry Kudlay,
  • Tatiana Pervunina,
  • Anna Starshinova

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life13030781
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
p. 781

Abstract

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The question of COVID-19 and long-COVID-19 course in children remains unsolved. This infection in children, which is associated with COVID-19, can vary from asymptomatic to systemic damage of various systems. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, associated with SARS-CoV-2 (MIS-C), is a serious condition in children and adolescents after experiencing COVID-19. Published data on MIS-C have indicated that the inflammation can be registered in the gastrointestinal tract (60–100%), as well as in cardiovascular (80%), nervous (29–58%), and respiratory (21–65%) systems. However, with the changing characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, the manifestations of COVID-19 and long-COVID-19 in children have also been changing. Currently, there is no clear understanding of the development of severe COVID-19 and MIS-C in children, especially after being exposed to patients with COVID-19. We presented two new clinical courses of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children with severe multisystem damage after close contact to relatives with COVID-19 or long-COVID-19. Thus, high-risk children, who are positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection after contact with COVID-19 patients, should be clinically managed during the first few months. The identification of the disease complexity requires the involvement of neurologists, cardiologists, and other specialists.

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