A child who was being treated at a Texas hospital after developing an inflammatory syndrome linked to the novel coronavirus has died, hospital officials announced this week.
One of the two children being treated at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) died this week after they were admitted to the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.
“The milestone that I did not want to reach is we have had one of those patients pass away from complications of MIS-C with COVID,” Dr. Amy Thompson, Covenant Children’s CEO, said during a Wednesday news conference.
No other details were immediately provided. However, one local news station identified the boy as Isaiah Soto, a third grade student from Odessa.
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Medical experts have described MIS-C as similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare illness that causes swelling in medium-sized arteries throughout the body.
Many children with MIS-C — which causes inflammation in the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs — have either been infected with the novel coronavirus or had been exposed to someone with a COVID-19 infection.
MIS-C can also cause persistent fever, rashes, vomiting and diarrhea, among other symptoms such as a red tongue and eyes.
“If you have a child who has COVID, or has had COVID, and is having symptoms after the fact that would include fevers and then other generalized symptoms of a rash or even GI symptoms, respiratory issues, please make sure you talk with your primary care physician about what steps you need to take next,” Thompson said during the news conference.