PIMS (Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome) has hit the news a few times, especially lately with Katie Price’s son Harvey presenting serious symptoms of the virus. So I thought it important to share my own knowledge and that from the Royal College of Paediatrics & Children’s Health for parents, carers and teachers. Being alert to the symptoms means you can act quickly to get your child the medical help available they most urgently need.
During my time nursing in Children’s A&E this summer, I’ve seen a very small number of children presenting PIMS which seems to be linked to COVID 19. It’s important to bear in mind that this syndrome is very rare, so please don’t worry as most children and teenagers will not be seriously affected and help is available.
To put it into perspective less than 1.5% of all admissions to hospital with the virus are of people under 20, with even fewer in intensive care. Those few that are seriously affected present symptoms that are very similar to other life-threatening conditions such as sepsis or meningitis and although exceptionally sad only two have been known to have died of PIMS related symptoms. It’s a sad fact that children are more likely to die from seasonal flu and chicken pox or other illnesses for which their are vaccines available.
Dr Sanjay Patel, consultant in paediatric infectious diseases at Southampton Children’s Hospital, said: It’s very important to keep this in perspective. It’s a very rare condition and because of that parents shouldn’t be alarmed. We’re talking about a really small number of cases, each of which was picked up and treated by experts in our health system. It remains extremely unlikely that a child will become unwell with COVID-19, and it’s even more unlikely that a child will become unwell with this condition. I want to reassure parents that our advice to them has not changed. If you have an unwell child, it probably isn’t anything to do with COVID and is more likely to be something else.
If you’re concerned, trust your instincts and seek medical help.
There have been around 80 cases reported in the UK since April 2020 of children with inflammation throughout their body. Although inflammation is a normal response of the body’s immune system to fight infection, it sometimes goes into overdrive and attacks the whole body. If this happens, it’s important that children receive urgent medical attention. Doctors are concerned that in severe cases of PIMS the inflammation can spread to blood vessels (vasculitis), particularly those around the heart. If untreated, the inflammation can cause tissue damage, organ failure or even death. Some of the symptoms of PIMS can overlap with other rare conditions, such as Kawasaki disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome. Kawasaki tends to affect children under five whereas PIMS seems to affect older children and teenagers.
Yes it certainly can. Doctors know what to look out for and will do tests to diagnose what’s wrong and what treatment to give your child. Even where doctors aren’t 100% sure whether a child or teenager has PIMS, they know how to treat the symptoms associated with it. Doctors use the same type of treatments to ‘reset’ the immune system for both PIMS and Kawasaki disease. The message is that the quicker they get treatment, the speedier the recovery.
There’s a very wide range of symptoms and children with PIMS can be affected very differently. I’ve seen some children with a rash. Some, but not all, have had abdominal symptoms such as stomach ache, diarrhoea or being sick. All the children diagnosed with PIMS had a high temperature for more than three days, although this can be a symptom in many other illnesses and on its own is not a sign of PIMS.
The RCPCH have created a poster for parents to download listing which symptoms to look out for and how serious they are.
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/covid19_advice_for_parents_when_child_unwell_or_injured_poster.pdf
But to summarise here are a few of the main signs to keep an eye out for, remembering that it doesn’t necessarily mean they have PIMS:
Get immediate urgent or emergency medical care by calling 111 or going to A&E if you notice these warning signs in your child:
While most won’t, some children may be severely affected by the syndrome. The most important thing is to remember that any child who is seriously unwell needs to be treated quickly – whatever the illness.
Public Health England (PHE) is the sponsor and data controller for this research study. The Head of Governance at PHE can be contacted at elizabeth.coates@phe.gov.uk.
Main source: Royal College of Paediatrics and Children’s Health at www.rcpch.ac.uk
