8-Year-Old Boy's Severe Illness Linked To Coronavirus: Report

NILES, IL — A Niles second grader was hospitalized for nearly two weeks with a severe and little-understood illness that doctors believe is connected to the new coronavirus, according to his mother. Doctors at Lutheran General Hospital told Samantha Geer her 8-year-old son, Kendrick, was suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, WGN-TV reported.

His heart was functioning at only 30 percent when they arrived at the hospital, and his other organs were also suffering, Geer told the station. While her son had not tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, she said, the inflammatory syndrome, also known as MIS-C, tends to appear between two and four weeks after infection.

Kendrick, whose mother said he had been diagnosed with asthma but had no prior issues with breathing and excelled in martial arts, spent 12 days in the intensive care unit at the Park Ridge hospital after falling ill at the end of March, according to the report.

Children with the syndrome experience inflammation of different organs, including the heart, lungs, skin, eyes and digestive system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include abdominal and neck pain, rashes, diarrhea, vomiting or fatigue.

While the syndrome's cause is not yet known, according to the CDC, many children who develop it have either contracted the coronavirus themselves or been around someone with COVID-19.

But many children with MIS-C test negative for COVID-19, according to the Mayo Clinic. The syndrome is usually treated with anti-inflammatory medication to prevent permanent damage to vital organs. The syndrome shares some symptoms with the condition Kawasaki disease, which mainly affects children under 5, inflaming their blood vessels, but researchers have not determined whether the two illnesses are connected, according to the clinic.

Geer said Kendrick will need to see medical specialists for years, but his last two checks have shown his heart is stable, and doctors have cleared him to practice martial arts.

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