Epidemiology of Exposures, Preceding Illness and Testing History in Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children in the First 18 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Los Angeles County, California

Caitlin N Newhouse; Lauren Finn; Candace M Gragnani; Susan Hathaway; Denise Nunez; Jason Malenfant; Priyanka Fernandes; Moon Kim; Dawn Terashita; Sharon Balter

doi:10.1097/INF.0000000000003688

Epidemiology of Exposures, Preceding Illness and Testing History in Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children in the First 18 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Los Angeles County, California

Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2022 Nov 1;41(11):e453-e455. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003688. Epub 2022 Aug 31.

Authors

Caitlin N Newhouse^{1

2}, Lauren Finn¹, Candace M Gragnani^{1

2}, Susan Hathaway¹, Denise Nunez^{1

2}, Jason Malenfant^{1

2}, Priyanka Fernandes^{1

2}, Moon Kim¹, Dawn Terashita¹, Sharon Balter¹

Affiliations

¹ From the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Acute Communicable Diseases Program, Los Angeles, California.
² Preventive Medicine Program, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California.

Abstract

We describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 exposure, preceding illness, and SARS-CoV-2 testing in a large population with MIS-C during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of cases had exposure, preceding illness, or positive SARS-CoV-2 testing 4-8 weeks before MIS-C onset. Serology can help establish epidemiological link to COVID-19 when past infection or exposure are unknown.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19* / complications
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Child
Humans
Los Angeles / epidemiology
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / diagnosis
Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / epidemiology

Supplementary concepts

pediatric multisystem inflammatory disease, COVID-19 related