Rare COVID-19-linked syndrome in kids possible in adults too, case report notes

While research into the specific cause of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is ongoing, a new case report suggests that it may also appear in adults who have a history of COVID-19 diagnosis or exposure.

MIS-C causes different body parts to become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency has also noted several reports of "a similar multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A). The authors of the Canadian case report also felt the man’s illness could be described as MIS-A, and said both pediatric and adult rheumatology teams involved in his care agreed that he met the preliminary CDC criteria for MIS-A, and the criteria for Kawasaki disease.  "Given the patient’s recent history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, fevers without localizing symptoms, oral mucosal changes, cervical lymphadenopathy, conjunctivitis and lower extremity changes, we suspected inflammatory post-COVID-19 syndrome," Drs. Genevieve Kerkerian and Stephen Vaughan, infectious disease specialists in the department of medicine at Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, said in a news release. "The presentation was similar to reported cases of an uncommon but severe complication in children and adolescents infected with SARS-CoV-2, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), as well as to Kawasaki-like illness."