Coronavirus Warning: Mis-C Cases On The Rise In Children

The dangerous inflammatory syndrome usually appears weeks after a COVID-19 infection in children, and is currently seeing a post holiday surge. NBC's Sarah Dallof reports.

(NBC News) — Cases of Mis-C, an inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 cases in children, are on the rise.

It’s been diagnosed in more than 2,000 children in 48 states and resulted in the deaths of at least 30 according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Burke White’s 5-year-old daughter developed Mis-C a month after what seemed to be a mild case of coronavirus.

It started with a fever and stomach pain.

“They tested her for everything, flu, strep, COVID, again, did all those tests, they all came back negative,” he says.

A quick-thinking pediatrician sent them to the emergency room, correctly suspecting it was Mis-C.

“It’s definitely something that was a complete shock to us and not something we were even looking for,” White says.

Mis-C usually develops four to six weeks after COVID exposure, and health experts are seeing a rise in cases following the post-holiday COVID-surge.

“The last half of January and the first week of February, we were evaluating children and teenagers with suspected MIS-C very frequently on an almost daily basis,” says Dr. Leigh Howard of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The next weeks could be critical, and experts are urging parents to watch for symptoms like a rash, gastrointestinal distress and high fever.

If caught and treated early Mis-C patients generally recover.

White’s daughter spent a week in the hospital and is continuing treatment for heart inflammation.

“We’re in a much better place than we were. But just the unknown about all this is very daunting,” he says.

The long term effects for her and other Mis-C survivors are still unknown.

More here.