Although Israel’s infection rate and number of seriously ill patients have seen a slight decrease in recent days, there is currently a wave of children hospitalized across Israel in recent weeks with pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) after recovering from COVID. One Israeli father wrote on Twitter: “I’m now in the pediatric coronavirus ward at Rambam with my 6-year-old. There is currently a wave of children arriving at the hospital with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PIMS) about a month after recovering from COVID.” “I’m writing this because you don’t hear about this anywhere. Getting timely treatment is critical and it’s easy to miss it. The symptoms are prolonged fever – five days- and then red eyes.” One of the children at Rambam, a six-year-old girl, is in serious condition and is sedated and ventilated. The rest of the children are in moderate condition. Three of the children were transferred to Rambam after they were suspected of suffering from appendicitis due to severe abdominal pain, a less common symptom of the syndrome. Doctors at Rambam said that two of the children failed to respond to the usual treatment for PIMS and were instead treated with an experimental biological drug for arthritis, which proved successful in improving their condition. Dr. Yoni Butbol, a pediatrician and pediatric rheumatologist at Rambam, told Yisrael Hayom: “We’ve seen six cases of PIMS in recent weeks in children aged 6 -10, younger than we’ve seen in past COVID waves, apparently because children above age 12 were vaccinated.” “Some of the children had a significant drop in blood pressure and were in need of support. Some suffered from respiratory failure, others from cardiac injury, and some from severe abdominal pain. These children deteriorated very quickly.” Dr. Butbul added that the severe abdominal pain, which led doctors to initially suspect appendicitis, was a symptom that wasn’t seen in previous COVID waves. He also said that the children with PIMS didn’t suffer from symptoms when they had COVID or suffered from minimal symptoms only. There is also a 15-year-old with PIMS hospitalized in serious condition at Sheba Hospital in Tel HaShomer as well as a 5-year-old boy with PIMS hospitalized in critical condition in the pediatric ICU at Kaplan Hospital in Rechovot, sedated and ventilated. The doctors are fighting to save his life. After the 5-year-old’s parents brought him to the hospital earlier this week, tests showed that he was suffering from multisystem inflammation. A serological test determined that he had recovered from the coronavirus, which his parents, who had been vaccinated, were unaware of. PIMS is rare but can be dangerous. Dr. Adi Klein, the director of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, called on parents to be vigilant. “I take this opportunity to call on parents to be especially vigilant even if they think their children never had COVID, and even more so if they did. Seek immediate medical advice if you see symptoms of fever, a rash, stomach pain, and general malaise.” There are also dozens of pregnant and postpartum women hospitalized in COVID wards throughout Israel. Eight women are in serious condition, of whom four are attached to ECMO machines and four are ventilated. Eighty-five percent of the women are unvaccinated. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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