英でまれなウイルス性症候群　子どもが発症、新型コロナとの関係は不明

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英国で、コロナウイルスに関連する症候群が子どもたちの間で発生しているとの報告があり、保健相は28日、「非常に憂慮している」と述べて懸念を示した。その一方で、これについてはさらなる調査が必要であり、現時点では非常にまれなケースにとどまっていると強調した。（写真はマット・ハンコック保健・社会福祉相）
　英国民保健サービスは先週末、少数の子どもたちが腹痛や心臓周辺の炎症など複数の特異な症状を呈したとして、警告を出していた。
　医療専門紙ヘルス・サービス・ジャーナルに掲載された報告によると、罹患（りかん）した子どもたちは集中治療を要したという。
　マット・ハンコック保健・社会福祉相はラジオ局ＬＢＣに対し、「ごくまれに、重大疾患を引き起こす自己免疫反応の影響が子どもにみられるという初期報告について、非常に憂慮している」と認めた。
　ハンコック氏は、「これは新しい疾患で、コロナウイルスや新型コロナウイルスによって引き起こされている可能性があると考えている」と説明。
　とはいえ、罹患者が必ずしも新型コロナウイルス検査で陽性反応を示したわけではなく、陰性だった子もいるという。
「われわれは今、多くの研究を行っている。また私が強調したいのは、まれにしか起こらないということだ。罹患した子どもたちにとっては非常に重大だが、症例数はわずかだ」とハンコック氏は述べている。
　高級紙ガーディアンは、これまでに報告されている症例数は少なくとも１２件と報じている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/04/30-12:56）

Britain's health minister said Tuesday he was very worried at signs of a coronavirus-related syndrome emerging in children but stressed it needed more research and remained very rare.
The state-run National Health Service (NHS) issued an alert at the weekend about a small number of children presenting an unusual set of symptoms, including abdominal pain and inflammation around the heart.
They have required admission to intensive care, according to a report in the Health Service Journal.
I'm very worried about the early signs that in rare cases, there is an impact of an auto-immune response in children that causes a significant disease, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told LBC radio.
He added: It's a new disease that we think may be caused by coronavirus and the COVID-19 virus.
But Hancock said that while some of the children who have this new disease tested positive for the virus, others had not.
We're doing a lot of research now. What I would also stress is that it is rare. Although it is very significant for those children who do get it, the number of cases is small, he said.
The Guardian newspaper reported that there had been at least 12 cases.
According to the Paediatric Intensive Care Society, the NHS alert warned of common overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and atypical Kawasaki disease and blood parameters consistent with severe COVID-19.
TSS is a serious illness associated with infections while Kawasaki causes blood vessels to become inflamed and is mostly found in children under the age of five.
The national medical director for NHS England, Stephen Powis, said on Monday it was too early to say whether the new disease was linked to coronavirus but the issue was being looked into urgently.
England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said it was entirely plausible that it was linked to COVID-19.
Children have died from coronavirus but serious complications are rare.
Evidence from throughout the world shows us that children appear to be the part of the population least affected by this infection, said Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
But he added: New diseases may present in ways that surprise us, and clinicians need to be made aware of any emerging evidence of particular symptoms or of underlying conditions which could make a patient more vulnerable to the virus.