A MOTHER says her eight-year-old daughter is still suffering Covid “flare-ups” nine months after suffering what is thought to have been a rare but life-threatening complication that left her falling asleep at her school desk.
Helen Goss says her daughter Anna became unwell after both her and her partner Jonathan Halder developed the most common symptoms of the virus, including a cough and fever, towards the end of March last year.
The 37-year-old said initially the virus had not appeared to affect her daughter severely but three weeks later she “became really sick, very very quickly,” with a fever that reached 40C, a rash, muscle weakness, fast heart rate and changes to her sense of smell and taste.
The family, who live in Westhill in Aberdeenshire, called NHS 24 and had a telephone consultation with a health worker at a Covid hub at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. By this time, the then seven year-old had had a fever for days and had not urinated in 12 hours and the mother was told to bring her if the situation did not change within two hours.
Ms Goss says that when this did change, she decided not to take her to hospital but says in hindsight this was a mistake.
Doctors believe Anna may have developed a rare syndrome condition which is now being seen in children who have had Covid-19 and does not usually cause serious problems but can be life-threatening.
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Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (or PIMS for short) has been seen in a small number of children and teenagers, and symptoms are similar to conditions such as sepsis or meningitis.
It can be treated but there currently isn’t a test which will say whether a child definitely has it.
The family say almost ten months on, the eight year-old is still suffering health problems and Covid “flare-ups” and say that, while the diagnosis has been written in her medical records, support and advice has been limited.
“The majority of doctors merely shrug and send us packing. We’ve felt very isolated and unsupported.
“If she had been seen in April, examined and diagnosed earlier then I do wonder if many of her recurring health issues she has now could have been avoided, or at least the severity of issues mitigated,” said Ms Goss.
“In April, the messaging was very much ‘don’t go near the hospitals’ and testing was like gold dust.
“If it had happened now, today, I would have taken her straight there immediately. In hindsight, that’s terrifying and I wish I had taken her because she has had so many problems.
"I remember in that same week that Anna was so ill there was a story of an Aberdeenshire boy who had been incredibly sick with PIMS.
“It didn’t occur to me that this could be the same thing.
“She recovered through May but never really regained her strength.”
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Ms Goss, whose partner works in the oil and gas industry, said her daughter rarely missed school before she became unwell in April but has not been back since October.
She said: “Her teacher told me she was falling asleep at her desk.
“She gets flare ups all the time. In fact she’s having one now and is missing e-Sgoil today. She has a temperature, flushed cheeks, her taste has gone funny again, she’s flat out exhausted and the rash has come back, although it never really left in one area of her body.
“We have had two trips to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary over the past six months. One because her neck was swollen and she had Covid symptoms again.
“She had blood tests which revealed a thyroid issue. A Covid swab was negative but antibodies were positive.
“The second time, we rushed her into hospital in August as she had severe stomach pains. The GP thought it could be appendix. She had blood tests again and that was ruled out.
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“We’ve seen so many paediatricians and the only doctor who has really listened has been the school doctor.
"When I look at pictures of Anna before and after she became unwell, I can really see how much it has affected her."
While it is rare for children with coronavirus to be admitted to intensive care, doctors say they are seeing some cases of Long Covid, which is distinct from PIMS.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) data found 13 per cent of children aged between two and 11 across the UK were still experiencing symptoms including headaches, a cough or fatigue at five weeks, and this rose to 15% in 12 to 16-year-olds.
While attention has mainly focused on their ability to transmit the virus to adults, Debby Bogaert, a Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Edinburgh University, said the data had showed there was a need to look more closely at the impact on children themselves.
She suggested the effects of Long Covid could be worse in young patients because they are still growing and developing.
Sammie McFarland of the Long Covid Kids campaign group said: “We need to see the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health accepting Long Covid because by the time it filters down to the GPs, they are then going to be more supportive to the families who need these services.”
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