An 8-year-old girl has been diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), becoming the 34th child in Taiwan to develop the rare complication of COVID-19, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) Saturday.
The girl, who tested positive for COVID-19 on June 10, has no chronic illnesses, and began displaying symptoms of MIS-C including coughing, snuffling, and a runny nose on June 30, CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-hsiang (???) said.
Chuang said the girl was admitted to a hospital on July 3 with dehydration associated with a bacterial infection and transferred to an intensive care unit on July 5 after she developed abnormally low levels of platelets, inflammation, and increased cardiac-enzyme levels that could lead to a heart attack.
The girl’s condition has shown improvement following a treatment of steroid and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), Chuang said.
The girl had received one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine on June 2.
To date, 93 children aged 12 and under in Taiwan have developed severe illnesses after contracting COVID-19, including 34 MIS-C cases, 22 cases of encephalitis (brain inflammation), 17 with pneumonia, eight with croup, three with sepsis, three who had other comorbidities, according to the CECC.
Among the severe child cases, 22 passed away, including six who died before being admitted to hospital, the CECC said.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man was the youngest of the 94 fatalities from COVID-19 reported by the CECC on Saturday.
The person had received three vaccine doses and had been cared for at a nursing facility for nervous system diseases, Chuang said.
He was treated with an oral antiviral drug for COVID-19 at the facility after testing positive on June 20 and was admitted to a hospital on July 1 as he had fallen into a coma while his oxygen saturation levels had declined to a low level, Chuang said.
Chuang said that the person passed away due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia on July 4.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel