⁍ Nearly 600 children were admitted to U.S. hospitals with a rare inflammatory syndrome associated with the novel coronavirus.

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⁍ Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) is a rare but severe condition that shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease.

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⁍ With rising COVID-19 cases, there could be an increased occurrence of MIS-C.

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– Last year’s deadly SARS-like illness was caused by a new virus, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says it was responsible for an unusually high number of hospitalizations in the US. The CDC says that between March and July of this year, 570 children under the age of 18 were hospitalized with a rare inflammatory condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, related to the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, reports Reuters. All MIS-C patients tested positive for COVID-19, and 10 of them died. MIS-C is a rare but severe condition that shares symptoms with toxic shock and Kawasaki disease, including fever, rashes, swollen glands, and, in severe cases, heart inflammation. It has been reported in children and adolescent patients about two to four weeks after the onset of COVID-19. With rising COVID-19 cases, there could be an increased occurrence of MIS-C, but this might not be apparent immediately because of the delay in development of symptoms, said the report’s authors, including those from the CDC’s COVID-19 response team. In May, the CDC published a health advisory with details of how MIS-C manifests in patients, and asked clinicians to report suspected US cases to local and state health departments. As of July 29, state health departments across the country reported a total of 570 MIS-C patients diagnosed with the illness from March 2 to July 18. Among the MIS-C cases, all patients tested positive for COVID-19 and 10 died. The data is consistent with two US studies published in June and several reports among COVID-19 patients in France and Britain.