Another Childhood Challenge

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, people stressed that children, unlike the elderly, seemed relatively immune from the worst consequences of this viral infection. Covid-19 is not, however, without dangers for kids. A condition, Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), has now been identified by UK specialists, with up to 100 children being hospitalised each week (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/05/up-to-100-uk-children-a-week-hospitalised-with-rare-post-covid-disease). PIMS symptoms include rashes; fever (up to 40 degrees Centigrade); dangerously low blood pressure and abdominal problems (there may even have been a few deaths, in spite of intensive hospital care). Although PIMS appears relatively rare (being reported in 1 in 5000 children), its incidence may be higher (it can be confused with other childhood afflictions e.g. Kawasaki disease). The syndrome, is seen, about a month after a Covid-19 infection. It can also occur whether or not the child showed disease symptoms. Eighty percent of PIMS sufferers were healthy, before developing the syndrome and 75% were from Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority (BAME) backgrounds. This is yet another danger for UK BAME communities (they have high incidences of adult deaths), where uptake of vaccines against Covid-19 is still low. It has been suggested that the incidence of PIMS is higher in the 2nd wave, than in the first but this could be simply because specialists are now looking for the condition. The identification of PIMS, suggests that the opening of nurseries and primary schools will not be without dangers. The BAME link is also problematic, as children from these backgrounds can already be educationally disadvantaged (so you wouldn't want to exclude any from nurseries or schools, even for their own protection). I suspect there is also a need to 'flag up' the possibility of PIMS much more widely in the UK and elsewhere. What you don't look for, you don't find.