Coronavirus could cause children's brain problems

Although most do not develop a serious form of the disease, some children may be at risk of developing a secondary inflammatory syndrome, which causes brain damage

(Photo: Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash) In some children the new coronavirus can cause neurological problems. To highlight it were the researchers of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, in London, who in a small study just published in the journal Jama Neurology, observed that while on the one hand the little ones seem to be partially spared by Covid-19, the the other may be more vulnerable to secondary brain damage, probably attributable to pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome.

To understand this, the researchers monitored 27 children with the new coronavirus. Of these, 4 children reported neurological symptoms, such as encephalopathy, headache, difficulty speaking and swallowing, muscle weakness, reduced reflexes and damage to the corpus callosum, the brain region that helps the two hemispheres to communicate with each other, but no disturbance related to the respiratory system (very common symptom associated with Covid-19). Of the 4 children, who requested ICU admission, 2 were discharged from the hospital in less than a month, while the other 2 still needed wheelchair assistance due to muscle weakness in the lower limbs. end of the study. "Children affected by Covid-19 may present new neurological symptoms involving the central and peripheral nervous system in the absence of respiratory symptoms," the researchers write. "Neurological improvement, however, was observed in all patients, with two children showing complete recovery by the end of the study."

The why some children develop these symptoms is still a mystery. According to the assumptions of experts, these neurological manifestations would be related to the syndrome, an inflammatory multisystem disorder of children , caused by a dysregulated immune response in the debilitating, similar to that observed for the Kawasaki syndrome , a rare inflammatory condition that involves the blood vessels, as observed already with some variation in young people suffering from the new coronavirus . As we told you , in fact, an Italian study published in the Lancet showed a higher number compared to previous years cases of children with symptoms that resembled those of this inflammatory disease (even if to prove the association between coronaviruses and Kawasaki syndrome will need more data). However, as pointed out by the national Institute of health, “this syndrome would seem to share some clinical features with the Kawasaki disease but, according to the indications of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and World Health Organization, it is a clinical form should be differentiated from Kawasaki disease and that is still in the process of definition”.

most of The children suffering from the new coronavirus does not develop a severe form of the disease and are less likely to manifest flu-like symptoms observed in adult patients. However, this latest survey shows that even young children can be exposed to neurological complications associated with the Covid-19, as adults. In a recent study , for example, showed that in adult patients the neurological manifestations (also late) the most popular were: headaches, pains in the muscle in the head, loss of smell , stroke, but also psychiatric problems and mood disorders. “The children may be at high risk of an inflammatory syndrome secondary that causes damage to the corpus callosum, the area that helps the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate with each other,” reads the study. “Now, more research is needed to evaluate the association of neurological symptoms with changes in immune-mediated among children with Covid-19”.