More than 2,000 children in the U.S., including at least 20 in Savannah, have been treated for a rare syndrome that can develop within four weeks of exposure to the novel coronavirus.
Savannah pediatrician Dr. Ericka Russell-Petty has treated three of these children in her private practice and wants parents and other physicians to be aware of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children or MIS-C, as it s called for short. Physicians in Savannah have seen the syndrome produce lasting cardiac damage to young children and high school athletes alike.
About 69% of MIS-C cases nationwide have been in Black or Latino kids, though the reasons why are unclear. Children can get MIS-C after even a mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID.
Taylor Blue, 6, warmed up for an at-home dance lesson Wednesday, stretching her foot behind her head so far it nudged her hair out of its bun. After a quick hair fix, she pliéd and twirled, pointed and flexed for 45 minutes, easily keeping pace with her cousins and with the directions from her aunt and dance instructor Rachael Jones.
Taylor looked like the budding ballerina she is.
But watching from the doorway, Taylor s mom, Teresa Blue, predicted that her normally active and athletic first-grader would be wiped out from this lesson, one of the first since Taylor was released from the hospital last month.