More than a dozen children in New York City have been hospitalized with a syndrome doctors believe to be connected to the novel coronavirus.
Children throughout the world have been mostly spared the worst respiratory symptoms of COVID-19, but a small number of kids are reportedly experiencing inflammatory symptoms affecting their blood vessels and coronary arteries.
None of the 15 New York City patients have died, according to the city health department, which described the illness as a "multi-system inflammatory syndrome potentially associated with COVID-19."
The same syndrome has been reported in several European countries. The World Health Organization likened the symptoms to those of Kawasaki syndrome, adding that it seems to be very rare.
A health bulletin Monday night was the first time NYC officials warned doctors to be on the lookout for inflammatory symptoms in COVID patients. The bulletin added that "the full spectrum of the disease is not yet known," acknowledging that doctors throughout the world have cataloged a myriad symptoms beyond the most common flu-like ones.
Of the 15 patients, most either tested positive for the coronavirus or were found to have coronavirus antibodies, suggesting they had previously been infected.
COVID-19 is most dangerous for older people or people with compromised immune systems. In NYC, an epicenter for the pandemic, only six children are counted among the city's more than 19,700 deaths.
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