Cuban study: Children do get sick and have sequelae from COVID-19

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 10 (ACN) In Cuba, no child or adolescent has died as a result of COVID-19. However, for almost a year, more than 6,300 have been diagnosed with the disease; only in the last 48 hours, 270 new cases in pediatric ages have been counted, according to Dr. Lissette López González, head of the National Pediatric Group, during a new meeting of the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with scientists and experts who work in the fight against the epidemic.

While evaluating the management of those convalescing from the new coronavirus and the follow-up of possible sequels, the specialist pointed out that in this third wave of contagions, the number of pediatric patients who have required intensive care has been significant: 51, between severe and critical.

Our protocol, she said, has shown robustness and has been very foresighted, because it begins in primary health care and ends there, with the recovery and social reinsertion, in an efficient manner, of all our children and adolescents.

Referring to the sequelae in the mental health of these patients, Lopez Gonzalez explained that of the 1,289 who have been studied, a little more than 32% developed risky behaviors when they became ill, such as over-consumption of technologies, rebellious and defiant behavior, willfulness, excessive attachment, irritability, fears and nightmares.

Another 14.1% had some psychopathology from the COVID-19 illness event, including separation anxiety disorders, depression, phobias, panics and transient tics. With rapid therapeutic intervention, the doctor explained, these problems have been reversed and there have been no permanent psychological sequelae.

From the biological point of view, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the health of infants and adolescents has also been determined. "Breaking the initial myths, children do get sick and do carry symptoms over time," she said, and gave the example of a study carried out in Villa Clara which showed cardiovascular diseases in more than 20% of the cases evaluated.

In that study, she said, myocarditis, pericarditis, effusions and heart rhythm disturbances were detected in children convalescing from COVID-19. In addition, in other pediatric patients in the country, blood pressure problems, neurological conditions, decay as a recurrent symptom in a considerable number of cases, respiratory, renal and hematological damage have been reported. All these have been strictly monitored by the Public Health system.

In Cuba, she pointed out, we had a child with Multisystemic Inflammatory Syndrome that evolved favorably; two cases of Kawasaki Disease, associated to COVID-19, also with good progress; and an adolescent with Hemophagocytic Syndrome, also linked to the new coronavirus, who had a severe organic dysfunction but is already recovering.

The specialist took advantage of this space in the Palace of the Revolution with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, and the Deputy Prime Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda, to warn about the infants who have been infected with COVID-19. Being an infant, she said, has a risk as exacerbated as being an elderly person.

In the month of January, to cite one example, we had four in serious condition. Of these, two had injuries that persisted over time, specifically arrhythmias. They have been followed by the health system and have a favorable evolution, but we have to take care of the children. "Today we have reached 308 sick infants, these are children who depend entirely on the care of the family and society," she said.