BENGALURU: While many adults face the risk of ‘long Covid’— wherein they continue to have symptoms even after recovery— it has come to light that even children infected during the second wave of the pandemic are experiencing post-Covid conditions like fatigue, lung issues, headache, and joint pain for up to four weeks after recovery. A recent study published in the UK found that 4 per cent of the children surveyed had symptoms for more than a month after getting infected with the Novel Coronavirus. Some of the symptoms they experienced were brain fog, cough, breathlessness, loss of smell, and fatigue.
Meanwhile, health experts in Bengaluru are also seeing many children deal with post-Covid issues, though the symptoms are not as severe as seen in adults. Dr Chandrika Bhat (Consultant- Paediatric Rheumatology), Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Marathahalli, pointed out that the condition is known as ‘long-Covid syndrome’. “We are mainly witnessing two types of post-Covid issues— Multi-system Inflammatory
Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and long-Covid syndrome. In long Covid syndrome, children exhibit varied symptoms like headache, joint pain, abdominal pain, constipation, digestion issues, fatigue, and non-specific aches and they continue to suffer from pain for a longer time. However, we have no evidence to suggest that children are more affected than adults. In fact, long Covid syndrome is nothing but ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ which we had seen earlier with other infections. Now, with so many Covid cases, we are seeing this in Covid-recovered children as well,” Dr Bhat said.
Dr Srikanta JT, Paediatric Pulmonologist, Aster CMI Hospital, who is also a member of the Karnataka Third Wave Committee, said, “At our centre, we saw children with long Covid syndrome... but the severity was less when compared to adults. Even those children with long-Covid syndrome experienced only mild fatigue to cough barring a few with very bad lung infection. They have gotten better with prolonged medication,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Sanjeeva Reddy, Consultant-Paediatrics, PICU and Neonatology, Manipal Hospitals, Whitefield, disclosed that there is a well defined clinical syndrome that causes multi-organ dysfunction which affects heart, livers, kidneys and the brain, called MIS-C. “There is a very effective treatment which is a combination of antibodies and steroids for this,” he said.
Meanwhile, doctors pointed out that it is important for children to be exposed to sunlight between 7am and 10am to get the required Vitamin D.