Treatment with antibodies purified from donated blood--immune globulin therapy--and steroids restored heart function in the majority of children with COVID-related multi-system inflammatory syndrome, according to new research published online on May 17, 2020 in an open-access article in Circulation, the flagship journal of the American Heart Association. Physicians around the world have recently noted that a small number of children exposed to COVID-19 have an emerging condition with features overlapping toxic shock syndrome and similar to a heart condition known as Kawasaki disease (https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/kawasaki-disease), together with cardiac inflammation. The symptoms most commonly observed are high-spiking fever, unusual lethargy over several days (asthenia), digestive signs including severe abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhea, swollen lymph nodes (adenopathy), and skin rash. In this small study, titled “Acute Heart Failure in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome In Children (MIS0-C) in the Context of Global SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic” (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048360) researchers in France and Switzerland retrospectively collected and analyzed clinical, biological, therapeutic, and early outcome data for children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit from March 22, 2020 to April 30, 2020, with fever, cardiogenic shock, or acute left ventricular dysfunction with inflammatory state. This analysis included 35 children (ages 2 to 16; median age of 10 years). Thirty-one (88.5%) children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and none of the children had underlying cardiovascular disease. Secondary conditions were limited, and 17% of patients were overweight (n=6).Login Or Register To Read Full Story