100 children hospitalised with rare post-Covid illness in Australia

More than 100 children in Australia have been admitted to hospitals with a rare but serious condition just weeks after getting Covid. Some of the kids who had Covid weren't sick at all.

35 children were treated for Covid-associated PIMSS in the first two years of the pandemic. According to federal health department figures, that number increased to 72 in the first four months of this year.

PIMS-TS is a rare syndrome that occurs two to six weeks following Covid and produces inflammation. The sickness affects less than 0.5 percent of Covid-exposed youngsters worldwide, and all Australian patients have recovered.

Even after they leave the hospital, Dr. Catherine McAdam says it's frightening for the child and family. Dr. McAdam is the chief of general pediatrics at Melbourne's Monash Children's Hospital, where Australia's first PIMS-TS patient was treated in August 2020. The hospital has treated 28 children, the majority of whom stayed for three to seven days.

"All have made good recoveries," she told news.com.au, "but parents lived with anxiety for four to six weeks afterward, wondering if their child would have long-term difficulties."

Patients must take aspirin every day to prevent blood clots, according to Dr. McAdam, and return for follow-up sessions. The severity of the ailments among the youngsters differed.

One of the ICU's most serious patients, according to Dr. McAdam, required medicines to keep their heart pumping going.

The severity of a Covid infection does not indicate the severity of a PIMS-TS infection. "They aren't always aware that they are carrying Covid…" They didn't have any symptoms when they first had Covid, but they did afterward, she added.