Kids are getting a mystery illness that's related to COVID-19, but the symptoms are usually different.  Most of the time parents can see them pop up on kids' lips and toes.

When everything broke loose in March, I'll admit that I was a little relieved that as serious as COVID-19 was, for the most part, it was leaving kids alone.  It wasn't making kids sick as much as it was adults, and that let us Mama bears relax just a smidge.  Until now.

The new COVID-related virus that's attacking kids has a name now because apparently, it's not going away.  MIS-C stands for Multi Inflammatory Syndrome-Children, and the CDC says it's a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

They don't know what causes MIS-C, but they do know that several kids with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19.  Some tested negative for COVID-19, but positive for the antibodies.  Many of them had a rash across their legs and torsos.

The symptoms of MIS-C are:

Fever
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Neck pain
Rash
Bloodshot eyes
Feeling extra tired

Urgent symptoms that would require a trip to the ER are:

Trouble breathing
Pain or pressure in the chest that does not go away
New confusion
Inability to wake or stay awake
Bluish lips or face
Severe abdominal pain

The CDC says MIS-C can be serious, even deadly, but most kids who were diagnosed with it have gotten better with medical care.

I'm always telling my girls that everything will be fine and I've done my best to flatten our own little household "freak-out curve" because the only thing panic does is make toilet paper hard to find.  So we're not going to worry.  But I do have a newly heightened awareness about the impact of the virus on kids, and I'll be on the lookout for tiredness, pains, and "new confusion."  This whole thing is literally a pain in the neck.

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