Hospitalized child (illustrative)
Hospitalized child (illustrative)iStock

Six children have been hospitalized in the past week, some of them in serious condition, with complications from Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (PIMS), Israel Hayom reported.

The syndrome was first recognized last year, when it was called Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

Hospitalized at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center were a four-year-old, who has already been released home; and an eight-year-old who is in serious condition and who was transferred to a different hospital's PICU.

Dr. Adi Klein-Kramer, who heads Hillel Yaffe's Pediatric Department, told Israel Hayom, "The eight-year-old boy had coronavirus a month ago, and was asymptomatic, and this week he was hospitalized. Because of the scope of the infections, there is concern that this trend will continue to worsen."

"We're talking about a relatively high number of cases, and that's connected to the fact that there is a general rise in infections, and because the children aren't vaccinated," said Dr. Galia Barkai, who heads Sheba Medical Center's Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit.

"The child who is hospitalized with us will soon be 12, and he didn't even know that he had contracted coronavirus. He even went to school in the last week, and he arrived with complications. It's important to remember that coronavirus in children can be very light, but the complication which develops in its wake is very serious, and a multisystem inflammation such as this can be life-threatening."

According to data from the Israel Pediatric Association, around 103 cases of PIMS were diagnosed in Israeli children by June 2021, and a 12-year-old girl from Bnei Brak died due to complications from PIMS. The syndrome, which develops following a coronavirus infection, is characterized by high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, redness of the conjunctiva, rash, myocarditis, low blood pressure, and damage to other bodily systems.