Clinical features of MIS-C and COVID-19 in children

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can rarely lead to serious illness in children. Children with underlying conditions in particular can sometimes become seriously ill with COVID-19. In addition, you can (mostly previously healthy) children get MIS-C three to six weeks after experiencing a corona infection. MIS-C, or 'multi-system inflammatory disease in children', is a severe inflammatory response throughout the body. This happens to approximately 1 in 5,000 children who get a corona infection. It is a serious disease, for which about half of children end up in intensive care. In the Children have also died abroad. Since the start of the pandemic, pediatricians from more than 35 hospitals in the Netherlands have jointly registered data on children with MIS-C or severe COVID-19. They do this in the context of the COPP study: "Clinical features of COVID-19 in Pediatric Patients". The data entered is automatically analyzed daily and published on the website www.covidkids.nl shown. The information from the COPP study has proven to be very important for advice on vaccinating young children and teenagers in the Netherlands. It will remain essential in the near future to have good information about how sick children after infection with SARS-CoV-2. This is important because of the arrival of new variants, such as omikron. But also to keep track of the effect of vaccination on children occurrence of MIS-C. MIS-C cases are not kept by the GGD or the NICE registration of the hospitals. The aim of the COPP study is to expand the registration to all hospitals in the Netherlands. A complete, timely registration of children with COVID-19 or MIS-C in Dutch hospitals with 'real-time' reporting on the website is important to have continuous insight into the progress of corona infections in children in the Netherlands. We are also investigating the long-term effects of severe COVID-19 or MIS-C in children in the Netherlands.