In Ontario’s daily medical update, the Associate Chief Medical Officer addressed the alert sent by the Canadian Pediatrics Surveillance Program to monitor children with COVID-19 for an emerging inflammatory disease.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe says no such cases were reported in Ontario yet, but pediatricians have been advised about it. She says the disease, similar to Kawasaki’s disease, presents more in older children and may be associated with a viral or bacterial infection.
Yaffe says it can happen over several weeks or months after the original infection and as such it was added to the COVID-19 case definition and is now reportable by law. Yaffe says doctors are now on the lookout for a persistent fever or rash that sometimes comes with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
Dr. Yaffe says if caught early, it can be treated. But if it is not treated, children can end up with cardiac issues.
