10-year-old boy survives MIS-C, disease associated with COVID-19 - Chicago Tribune

April 28, an ambulance rushed Joshua Smith to University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children’s Hospital, where he would be diagnosed with a Kawasaki-like illness — an uncommon disease marked by a high fever and swelled blood vessels — that had recently surfaced in kids residing in COVID-19 hot spots in Europe and New York.

“I was scared,” said Lagwena Smith, 41, of south suburban South Holland.

The condition now known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is believed to be a rare but severe complication following a COVID-19 infection that shares some similarities with Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.

The cause of MIS-C is unknown, but the syndrome is thought to be an excessive immune response following a known COVID-19 infection or likely exposure.

Nationwide, more than a thousand cases have been confirmed in children and 20 deaths have been attributed to the syndrome since May, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, all children who had MIS-C in Illinois have survived, state health authorities said.

“The bottom line is we still don’t understand why MIS-C affects some and doesn’t affect others,” said Dr.

“That’s where I think a lot of the research is headed now, trying to determine who gets this,” Rosebush said.

As one of the earliest cases of MIS-C diagnosed in the United States, Joshua’s condition was initially a bit of a puzzle for physicians.

Lagwena Smith, a mother of four sons, said she tried her best to stay in her room and self-isolate from the rest of her family.

Lagwena Smith took him for a COVID-19 test at a nearby hospital in northwest Indiana, but as they approached the outdoor testing tent, the boy could barely stay upright and leaned on his mother for support.

At the same time, news reports from Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom cropped up expressing alarm over a new condition emerging in children in COVID-19 hot spots.

Joshua was the first MIS-C case at Comer, but two more children would be admitted with the condition that same week, Rosebush said.

She estimates the hospital has cared for eight to 10 children with the condition so far.

“I was happy to bring my son home; I’ll take that over anything in the world,” Lagwena Smith said.

“Because there’s still so much we don’t know about this condition from the long-term perspective,” Rosebush said.

As her son recuperates, Lagwena Smith said it can be difficult to hear from people who refuse to wear masks or still insist the virus — which has killed more than 1.1 million and infected more than 41 million worldwide — is a hoax.

As some parents are clamoring for more in-person instruction, Lagwena Smith said she’s glad his classes are entirely online, because she believes it’s safer.

“You don’t know what the other people are doing or where the kids are going,” she said.

“I think it’s important that we don’t continue this narrative that has been put out there that kids don’t get COVID,” she said

“What we do know is that masking, hand-washing, physical distancing, we know that works to curb the spread,” she said