Malaysia — A doctor in Kuala Lumpur has spoken out regarding the “unusual cases” of severe Covid-19 complications among young children, raising awareness to the public that “anything can happen.”
“Within one week, I’ve seen two children with “Covid complication,” wrote one Vivian Dominique, who goes by ‘littlemisshappyfeet’ on Instagram on Sept 8.
The first case was a two-year-old child from a family that tested positive for Covid-19 in August.
The family arrived at their ward because the toddler suddenly lost her ability to walk, shared Ms Dominique.
“According to her mother, she started walking ‘like an old man’ three weeks after they completed their quarantine, and within three days, she lost all her ability to walk or even stand,” the doctor shared.
She noted that the mother would try to hold the child in a standing position, but the child would “cry out and crash onto the floor like a puppet with its string cut.”
The medical staff tried inquiring with their specialist for advice on the case, but they couldn’t get a definite answer because there is more to be discovered about the virus.
“We just have to observe, treat and see how it goes along the way,” said Ms Dominique.
The second case was even “scarier,” she wrote. A four-year-old child suddenly had seizures a week after completing their quarantine.
“And it’s not just any seizure; the episode lasted 40 minutes,” said the doctor.
“Imagine 40 minutes seeing a child on and off, uprolled eyes, blue, saliva flowing, whole body stiff, whole body shaking,” she added.
Ms Dominique shared the trauma the mother experienced as she watched her child.
The seizures subsided after doctors injected medication into the child’s veins.
However, Ms Dominique said that three days later, the mother went back to her to say that the child began walking in a “weird” way.
“Oh no, not again,” said the doctor sadly.
“Both the children are initially healthy, normal kids before Covid,” she wrote.
“The complications of Covid-19 in children is not fully understood yet,” said Ms Dominique, urging the public to refrain from taking them to malls, gatherings parks and other venues with high foot traffic.
On Monday (Sept 13), Ms Dominique posted another update highlighting that the Delta variant “had changed the phase for children.”
She added that a healthy baby with no underlying disease passed away three days ago.
“While some people comment that children are asymptomatic so far and will get well in time, we need to stop living in denial, accept the fact and catch up if we want to win the race against mutation,” said Ms Dominique.
The number of children getting sick with the Delta strain has increased recently, although experts have said it was too early to tell if the mutation has transformed the virus into something more dangerous for younger individuals.
The Delta variant’s high transmissibility has increased the number of children getting sick from the virus.
“Over the course of the first year of this pandemic, the myth existed that children never got very ill from Covid,” said Children’s Hospital New Orleans physician-in-chief Dr Mark Kline in an NBC News report.
“That was mainly because the number of pediatric cases was relatively low.”
“This delta variant is an infectious disease specialist’s worst nightmare,” added Dr Kline. /TISG
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