LAUSR

Three children at one London hospital in mid-April, followed the next day by three at another—for Elizabeth Whittaker, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Imperial College London, those first cases raised an alarm. The youngsters had fevers, rash, stomach pain, and heart problems in some cases, along with blood markers that characterize COVID-19 in adults. But in most, nasal swabs failed to reveal any virus. Doctors nonetheless suspected a link. Since then, dozens of children—including more than 150 in New York state—have developed the inflammatory illness, which bears similarities to a rare condition called Kawasaki disease. It is another surprise from a virus that has proffered many, and projects worldwide are gearing up to study it. There9s hope that what9s learned from young patients might help the many adults in whom COVID-19 also triggers a grievous overreaction of the immune system. Most children so far have recovered with treatment.