How COVID-19 is having a lasting impact on children infected with the virus

ST. LOUIS – The movement is underway to vaccinate children from the age of 5 against COVID-19. The rush is in response to a growing number of children who contract COVID-19 and then experience inflammation throughout their bodies.

Jackson Thorn has game … whether he shoots with a hoop … or plays wrestling. Few things slowed down this 12-year-old. Up to …

“My head started to ache and my stomach started to ache,” Jackson said.

“He woke up in the middle of the night and was wheezing,” said Amy Polly, Jackson’s mother.

Jackson suffered from a sequelae of COVID-19 in children called Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome or MIS-C for short.

“I see kids with MIS-C and I see this post-inflammatory response to COVID is really like nothing I’ve seen in my career before,” said Megan Cooper, MD, pediatric rheumatologist immunologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St.. Louis.

Cooper said many of his patients, like Jackson, weren’t even aware they had COVID-19 until they began to experience the after-effects of MIS-C, causing inflammation of the heart, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, lungs, and lungs. kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, and digestive organs.

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“It’s not the flu. It’s not a bad cold, ”Cooper said.

“I was scared because I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” Jackson said.

Symptoms include high fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.

“All of a sudden he was feeling fine with a really high fever, a terrible headache, all within about five minutes,” Amy said.

Jackson spent eight days in the hospital which included a 10-hour IV drip, followed by two weeks of steroids. Jackson now feels better. Cooper said the best way to avoid MIS-C is to avoid contracting COVID-19.

“Get vaccinated, please,” Cooper said.

Black and Hispanic children have been disproportionately affected by MIS-C. Doctors don’t know why some children with COVID-19 get MIS-C and others don’t, or how long the symptoms will last. But symptoms usually appear within two to four weeks after contracting the virus or being around someone who has it. Interestingly, researchers believe that in the future COVID-19 will primarily impact very young children, as almost everyone will be vaccinated.