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There have been reports of a mysterious illness related to coronavirus that impacts children. Should parents be worried? Tacoma MD Dr. Gordon Cohen joined Seattle’s Morning News to discuss.

“There were three deaths in New York, and [New York Governor Andrew] Cuomo actually came out and said that there were three children who had died from coronavirus related mystery ailments. … Symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and changes in the color of their face and their lips and fingers, and even chest pain,” he said.

Dr. Cohen said this may be related to Kawasaki disease, but separating that from coronavirus symptoms is one of the difficulties.

“They’re saying that it looks like something called Kawasaki’s disease,” he said. “It’s an acute childhood illness that causes inflammations of the blood vessels and marred many different areas of the body.”

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“And it’s most common in kids that are under five. So now is this really a disease that’s related to COVID-19? Or is it a variety of different things and it just so happens that some of these kids have COVID-19?”

What parents want to know is are there enough of these cases that they should realistically worry?

“Well, here’s the problem with the entire COVID-19 story, is that we’re learning about it as we go along,” Cohen said. “There’s an international committee that’s been formed to discuss this problem, and it’s now being called pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, potentially associated with COVID-19.”

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“It’s still a mysterious pattern of illness, and that’s why it’s rare. There’s not even 100 cases so far. But I think that if parents are concerned, then they need to seek out an appropriate clinician,” he said. “And the clinicians need to also be aware of this because it’s presenting in so many different organ systems that you may need to have an infectious disease specialist, rheumatologist, or a cardiologist because of the Kawasaki part of it.”

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