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PIMS, the multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, is a complication after COVID-19. It may appear several weeks after the coronavirus infection has passed, even if it was asymptomatic, researchers from the science start-up MNM Diagnostics report. It is known that PIMS can be severe or mild. What it depends on? What factors, anyway, decide whether a child gets sick or not? Scientists have found a trace.
- According to researchers, the occurrence of the PIMS syndrome may be determined by certain inherited, genetically determined immunity defects
- Dr Elżbieta Kaja: these defects do not appear in a child under normal conditions until a viral infection
- PIMS can be mild or severe. The characteristic symptoms include systemic inflammation with fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea
- Scientists noticed different numbers of PIMS cases in different latitudes. Where do children get sick most often, and where is this disease practically absent?
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage.
What can determine whether a child develops PIMS and what will be its course?
According to scientists, genetic variants influence the diverse course of COVID-19, including the occurrence of PIMS. These are the first conclusions drawn from research conducted by scientists from around the world working within the consortium «The COVID Human Genetic Effort» (HGE). Patient data from Poland for research was provided by the Poznań-based scientific startup MNM Diagnostics, which is part of HGE.
Dr. Elżbieta Kaja from MNM Diagnostics explains that by collecting genetic data of patients with PIMS, scientists are trying to select genetic variants and metabolic pathways that may play a key role in the occurrence of this disease. – Understanding its molecular basis will allow you to take appropriate steps to treat and possibly even prevent the disease – emphasizes Dr. Kaja.
PIMS symptoms can be very serious
The presence of the PIMS syndrome (in which the body copes with a viral infection, but can control the excessive inflammation of blood vessels that occurs about 30 days after infection with the virus) may, according to the researchers, be determined by certain inherited, genetically determined immunity defects.
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– These defects do not normally show up in a child until a viral infection (such as COVID-19) triggers an immune response leading to PIMS. The symptoms can be very serious, including inflammation of the heart muscle, lungs or neurological complications – adds Elżbieta Kaja.
- PIMS, or childhood complication after COVID-19, can be life-threatening
She explained that PIMS results from uncontrolled and over-activation of the immune system and can be mild or severe. Its characteristic symptoms include: systemic inflammation with fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and conjunctivitis. In 84 percent Patients can detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood and elevated parameters of inflammation. 100 percent of patients declare contact with a person suffering from COVID-19 about a month earlier.
Where do children most often get PIMS? Interesting discovery
The researchers note that due to the relatively low number of SARS-CoV-2 tests in children, the exact number of patients with PIMS is unknown. In Poland, 444 cases of PIMS related to COVID-19 infection have been reported so far in Poland.
The analyzes carried out in France show that out of 10 thousand children infected with SARS-CoV-2 PIMS are diagnosed in two children. Different numbers of PIMS cases were also noted at different latitudes, with the highest rates in South Asia and Latin America. On the other hand, in such countries as South Korea, China and Japan, there were practically no cases of PIMS.
– There are many reasons for this situation and they can be related both to various mutations of the virus occurring in different parts of the world, as well as to environmental factors, as well as to genetic diversity among people – noted Dr. Elżbieta Kaja.
The immediate cause of PIMS. The researcher has no doubts
The researcher from MNM Diagnostics emphasizes that there is no doubt that the direct cause of PIMS disease is infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nevertheless the course of this disease may be determined by genetic conditions, as in other viral diseases of children associated with innate immunodeficiencies.
– Further research to identify such congenital genetic defects will allow to define the pathogenesis of the immune response of various symptoms of PIMS syndrome and enable prediction of susceptibility to this syndrome in healthy children – noted Dr. Elżbieta Kaja.
PAP / Wiktor Dziarmaga
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