Up to 10 children a week are being admitted to hospital with paediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome (PIMS) disease with 75% of the worst cases from ethnic minorities according to a report in The Guardian.
Between 12 and 15 children per day have fallen ill this year with most cases in London and the south-east.
PIMS symptoms include a high temperature, rashes, low blood pressure and abdominal pains with the most serious cases displaying as toxic shock or sepsis.
Ethnic minority children most at risk
Once again it seems that people from ethnic minorities are suffering disproportionately although in the case of PIMS the precise reason why this is so has yet to be determined.
Multiple studies have shown that social factors such as institutional racism, poverty, poor and overcrowded housing in ethnic minorities causes significantly higher rates of Covid-19.
It seems likely that the same factors are responsible for the higher rates of PIMS although genetic predisposition has yet to be ruled out.
Of 78 children admitted to intensive care with PIMS 47% were of Afro-Caribbean origin and 28% of Asian background compared to 14% of the overall UK population identifying as being from ethnic minorities.
PIMS first appeared during the first wave of the pandemic. One in 5,000 children can suffer from the disease after having Covid-19 irrespective of them showing symptoms at the time.
This latest misery reinforces the need for everyone in the community to be vaccinated.
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