Eight more children in Los Angeles County contracted an inflammatory disease linked to the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to 62, county public health officials announced on Saturday.
Multisystemic inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, is serious, but relatively rare. In LA County, it disproportionately affected Latino children. There are no further details about the eight new cases available.
Children are generally less vulnerable to coronavirus than adults and generally remain asymptomatic. The inflammatory reaction that results in MIS-C usually develops two to four weeks after exposure to the virus.
Symptoms of MIS-C can include persistent fever, pain in the abdomen or neck, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, red eyes, low blood pressure and exhaustion. Inflammation of body parts, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs, is also a possible symptom.
Children have been contracting MIS-C since the beginning of the pandemic. In December, a child with complex preexisting heart disease died of MIS-C in LA County – the only local death from the disease so far.
But in an indication of the severity of the disease, all 62 children with MIS-C in LA County were hospitalized, health officials said, with 45% treated in the intensive care unit.
Latin children were responsible for almost 74% of cases in LA County, according to authorities.
Across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported 1,659 cases of MIS-C and 26 deaths since May.
LA County MIS-C cases were distributed relatively evenly across age groups: 31% were under 5 years old, 37% between 5 and 11 years old and 32% between 12 and 20 years old.
Across the country, the CDC reported that the average age of affected children was 8 years.
If your child is experiencing symptoms of MIS-C, contact your doctor or call 2-1-1, and LA County will help you find a doctor.