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Long covid in children is a huge problem – admits Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski, a pediatrician and immunologist. It is not only PIMS, i.e. the pocovid syndrome in children, which was widely discussed in the media, but also diabetes, hepatitis, and even depression. We must stop thinking that COVID-19 in children is not dangerous. As the expert admits, some children after the disease “are crippled, require many months of multi-directional rehabilitation”.
- Initially, children with COVID-19 had no symptoms. They infected rather than suffered the infection themselves
- As the coronavirus started mutating, there were cases of severe illness, hospitalization, and complications in children
- Among them is not only PIMS, but also the mysterious hepatitis, which has become a huge challenge for doctors around the world
- Dr. Grzesiowski: – I consulted kids who were physically active before the infection, played sports, and were unable to function after COVID-19 (…), had to radically change their lifestyle
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
From downplaying infections to hospitalization
The COVID-19 issue in children has taken a winding road during the pandemic. Initially, infections in the youngest were underestimated. There were few of them, and even if the infection did, it was asymptomatic. Rather, the children were transmitters of the virus, that is why there have been so many calls for isolating them from adults who are at risk, especially the chronically ill, and seniors, their grandparents and grandmothers.
The perception of SARS-CoV-2 in children was altered by subsequent mutations in the virus, especially Delta. This variant not only caused symptoms of infection in pediatric patients, but could also lead to a severe course, including hospitalization.
During the delta wave of infections, more and more people started talking about complications of COVID-19 in children. The most important thing – about PIMS, or pocovid syndrome, which was the type of autoimmune vasculitis. As it turns out, this is not the only problem faced by children who have suffered from coronavirus infection today.
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The complications of COVID-19 in children are very serious
There were cases of severe infection, pneumonia, thrombosis and many serious complications. The easiest to grasp is PIMS, or autoimmune vasculitis that develops within three months of even mild COVID-19. Other dangerous autoimmune problems are diabetes, which develops at a similar time after recovery – explains Dr. Grzesiowski.
The expert also notes liver problems that began to appear in children. Although the direct relationship of hepatitis of unknown etiology with COVID-19 has not yet been proven, there are many indications that the coronavirus can cause damage to the body of a small patient, the consequence of which are pathologies in the functioning of certain organs.
– For now, we know that many of these children had a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the last months before falling ill. It may not be a direct viral attack on the liver, but some sensitization of the immune system, but it seems the coronavirus is involved in this disease. She for 5 percent. children end with a liver transplant, and for 2 percent. death, so it is a dramatically serious condition that threatens health and even life – says Dr. Grzesiowski.
Long covid in teenagers
Long covid is a big problem in older children who are sick and suffer from complications in the same way as adults.
— I consulted kids who were physically active before the infection, played sports, and were unable to function after COVID-19 because of the long covid band, they had to radically change their lifestyle. It has a terrible effect on the psyche of these children. Fall into a downward spiral of depression they stop studying well, have problems with sleep, with learning. They are mutilated and require many months of multi-directional rehabilitation – says the doctor.
– Initially, pediatrics appeared to be an area spared by COVID-19. Today we know that the virus attacks small patients to the same extent as adults. We have gone from wishful thinking that children are safe to believe about the enormous risk that SARS-CoV-2 infection poses in pediatric patients – concludes Dr. Grzesiowski.
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