Pediatricians sound alert on coronavirus-related illness affecting kids in Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Pediatricians in Miami-Dade County suspect they have cases of the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a condition that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported is related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Doctors at Holtz Children’s Hospital in Allappattah and at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital near Coral Gables have patients in the pediatric intensive care unit who are exhibiting symptoms of the post-viral syndrome that also known as MIS-C.

Pediatricians believe MIS-C is a spectrum of disorders defined by how some children’s immune systems are responding to the coronavirus. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Marcelo Laufer said the theory is that the virus triggers an inflammatory process.

“By the time the inflammatory process starts, the virus is not present in the body anymore,” Laufer said. “Therefore, many of these patients are not contagious by the time we see them.”

The cases in Miami-Dade County remain under investigation. The Florida Department of Health is supposed to investigate the local cases, according to Miami-Dade County. The CDC is gathering data.

According to Jennifer Piedra, a spokeswoman for the Jackson Health System, Holtz Children’s Hospital has two confirmed cases of the rare and treatable disease.

“Both patients are receiving appropriate treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit, and are showing signs of improvement,” Piedra wrote in an e-mail.

Laufer wants parents to know the disease can be serious if left untreated.

“We want these patients to come to the hospital and feel safe. It’s a safe environment,” Laufer said. “We feel it’s important for the community to know they’re going to be safe if they come to the emergency room.”

Patients first present with fever and inflammation. The symptoms of the syndrome vary from case to case. Some children have red eyes and red tongues. The organ involvement can be cardiac, renal, respiratory, hematologic, gastrointestinal, dermatologic or neurological.

“What’s striking about this particular illness is by day one or two the kids get very sick,” Laufer said. “And fortunately in Florida, we are lucky they are starting after the rest of the world, so we had the advantage of knowing what had worked and what didn’t work in other places.”

The Evelina London Children’s Hospital pediatric intensive care unit was among the first to identify the illness. In the U.S., the disease first emerged in New York. CNN recently reported there are suspected cases in about 16 more states.

Before pediatricians identified the pattern, some children were initially misdiagnosed as Kawasaki disease cases. Both illnesses can cause inflammation in blood vessels throughout the body.

“The gastrointestinal symptoms are more than in Kawasaki, they get significant abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea — which usually is not as prominent in Kawasaki,” Laufer said. “And then, they have a rash which is basically redness in different parts of the body and swelling of the hands, swelling of the feet.”

Symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease:

• High fever
• Very red eyes
• Red, dry, cracked lips
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Rash

Local 10 News Assignment Desk Managers Kerry Weston and Peggy Phillip contributed to this report.