Eben writes:
Dear Dr. Griffin,
I am a longtime listener to COVID clinical updates and know that you have already done some episodes related to pericarditis in kids after SARS-CoV-2 infections. I was wondering if you could give us an update, in part because this has just come very close to home.
My six year old was just hospitalized today and diagnosed with pericarditis. Generally he is a very healthy little guy. He was vaccinated with Pfizer last November and contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection a few weeks ago. Symptoms were mild: he had a low fever, briefly lost his sense of taste and smell. He has been testing negative for SARS-CoV-2 since April 1st.
Today he had a sudden spike in fever up to 104 F while he was complaining that his heart hurt. It was racing when my wife put her hand on his chest. The ambulance took them to the hospital where an ECG revealed pericarditis. They sent him home for bed rest and he will be getting a checkup with a pediatrician in three days.
Basically, I’m just wondering what the future might hold? I know that we’ll need to watch the situation closely for the next couple of weeks before he heads back to school (assuming that everything is OK). But, what about the prognosis for the medium to long term? Are kids like him recovering, or are some developing long COVID symptoms? Have there been any recent papers on this that we can check out? Do you know of any studies that are actively tracking this?
Thanks again for everything that you do to help us all make sense of SARS-CoV-2. I’ve CCed my wife on this note in case she has anything to add, or any other questions.
Take care,
Eben
—
S. Eben Kirksey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (Research), Alfred Deakin Institute
Charlie writes:
Dear team,
thank you for your service!
My 75 years old father-in-law is traveling in Pennsylvania and caught Covid.
He is vaccinated and boosted last December and on day 3 of symptoms in only coughing and sounds horse. O2 saturation is 96%. However, he has serious heart issues, consequently some kidney issues and weight lot higher than it should be. I thought with his age and health issues he would be prime target for monoclonals, but the physicians who saw him waved it off. He said that his lung sounds good, O2 is good… I thought, sure, on day 3. By the time things look worse we ran out of time. Am I wrong here?
Thanks again,
Charlie
Jesse writes:
Hello,
My 85 year old grandmother and her husband of the same age recently tested positive for covid.
However they are reluctant to take paxlovid until the situation gets bad for them.
Her doctor told her she can make her own decision (at least that’s what she told us they said).
What’s the best material we can share that helps explain the importance of early action. A video would be great. Why aren’t doctors educating their patients on this and what can someone else do to help their at risk family learn and be prepared before this happens.
They live in NYC, is the hotline going to help convince them or is it only useful once they’re committed.
Philip writes:
My Colombian wife had dengue in Colombia about 10 years ago. Recovered well.
She is planning a trip to Colombia soon.
I see the dengue vaccine should only be given to people who test positive for prior infection. The vaccines given here seem to be given to youth. My wife is 68 years old.
Trying to figure out the dengue vaccine. She can either try a travel clinic in the US or maybe in Colombia.
Your thought?