‘O’ +ve: Post-Cov ailment relief for kids in 3rd wave

Kolkata: With more than four weeks having passed since the peak of the third wave, paediatricians across city hospitals feel that MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children) threat may be over. While most of the hospitals have not got even a single case of MIS-C, only a couple of children are undergoing treatment for this.

The MIS-C had affected a large number of children after the first two waves of the pandemic. Caused by delayed immune response to Covid-19 in children, MIS-C is a severe condition, in which the affected children suffer from various complications, including multi-organ dysfunction.

“Following the high infectivity of Omicron and higher number of children having been infected during the third wave, we had expected an explosion in MIS-C cases by mid-February. So far there are reports of only sporadic cases. Therefore, the MIS-C threat may be over,” said paediatric rheumatologist, Priyankar Pal, a professor at Institute of Child Health (ICH).

Mihir Sarkar, a paediatric professor at Medical College Hospital Kolkata, however, felt that around four more weeks may be crucial to see if there is a spurt in MIS-C cases. It takes anything between two to eight weeks post the infection for a child to get MIS-C. “This time we have had only eight cases against 80 children who were diagnosed with the condition post the two previous waves. At present, we have a two year-old child with severe MIS-C. We should be vigilant for four more weeks,” said Sarkar.

ICH Kolkata had got 200 MIS-C cases post the first and second waves. This time it has got only 10 cases. Currently, only one — a 10-year-old — is being treated in the hospital’s PICU and is in critical condition.

“Unlike the first and second waves, we are not seeing any clustering of MIS-C cases. The reason may be that Omicron is less likely to cause the condition. But this is only a general observation,” said Prabhas Prasun Giri, paediatric intensivist and associate professor at ICH.

“Between September 2020 and November 2021, we treated almost 50 children with MIS-C, including a 21-day old newborn . About 80% of them needed intensive care like respiratory support, including ventilation and ionotropic for heart failure. This time we have not got a single MIS-C case post the third wave,” said Sumita Saha, neonatologist and paediatrician at Fortis Hospital, Anandapur.

“So far we have not got any case of MIS-C. At present, we do not have any paediatric Covid patient in our hospital,” said Dibyendu Raycahudhuri, associate professor of paediatrics at Bankura Medical College.