VOA慢速英语2020 医生警告可能与冠状病毒有关的儿童疾病（在线收听）

Doctors Warn of Illness Possibly Linked to Coronavirus in Children

Doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain have been warned to look out for a rare inflammatory condition in children. The condition is possibly linked to the new coronavirus.

Earlier this week, Britain's Paediatric Intensive Care Society sent a notice to the country's doctors. It said that in the past three weeks, there has been an increase in the number of children with "a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care."

The group said there was "growing concern" that the condition is related to COVID 19, the disease caused by the virus. However, the group also suggested a different, unidentified disease might be responsible.

Russell Viner is the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He told the Associated Press: "We already know that a very small number of children can become severely ill with COVID-19 but this is very rare."

Viner added that the condition was likely caused by an overreaction of the body's natural defenses, or immune system. And he noted similar symptoms had been seen in some adults infected with the coronavirus. The cases were also reported to have qualities similar to a rare blood vessel disorder known as Kawasaki disease. Symptoms of Kawasaki disease include a high body temperature that lasts for five days or more. They also include skin conditions and swollen parts of the neck.

Only some of the children tested positive for COVID-19. So scientists are unsure if these rare symptoms are caused by the new coronavirus or by something else. Health officials estimate there have been about ten to 20 such cases in Britain and NHS England said it is urgently investigating the reports.

Viner said that doctors were considering other possible causes for the syndrome, including other viruses or new medicines. But they are treating the cases as if they are "COVID-related."

Spain's Association of Pediatrics recently made a similar warning. It told doctors that in recent weeks, there had been a number of school-age children suffering from "unusual" stomach pain, along with other stomach issues. These issues could lead within hours to shock, low blood pressure and heart problems, the group noted.

The group urged doctors to recognize the symptoms and send these patients to a hospital.

In Italy, Angelo Ravelli of Gaslini Hospital and a member of the Italian Pediatrics Society, sent a note to 10,000 medical experts raising his concerns. Ravelli and his team reported an unusual increase in the number of patients with Kawasaki disease in parts of Italy hit hard by the coronavirus. He noted some children had COVID-19 or had contacts with confirmed virus cases.

"These children do not respond to traditional treatment," he said, adding that some were given a large amount of the drug known as steroids.

James Gill is with Warwick Medical School. He said while the reports were concerning, there was still no hard evidence that the rare syndrome was caused by COVID-19.

"Regardless of source, multi-system inflammatory diseases are ... serious for children and ... intensive care teams, so keeping an extra eye out for new symptoms arising in the patients we see is always a good thing," he said.

Some possible cases have also been reported in France and Belgium.

To date, children have been among the least affected group by the coronavirus. Data from more than 75,000 cases in China showed they represented 2.4 percent of all cases and mostly suffered only mild symptoms.

The World Health Organization said it was attempting to gather more information on any new, coronavirus-related syndrome in children. But it had not received any official reports about it so far.

I'm Pete Musto.

医生警告可能与冠状病毒有关的儿童疾病

英国、意大利和西班牙的医生被警告要注意一种罕见的儿童炎症。这种疾病可能与新冠病毒有关。

本周早些时候，英国儿科重症监护室协会向该国医生发出通知。通知指出，过去三周，因出现“多系统炎症状态而需要重症监护”的儿童数量明显增加。

该协会表示，人们“越来越担心”这种疾病与新冠病毒引发的疾病新冠肺炎有关。然而，该协会还表示，这也可能是另一种未被确认的疾病所致。

拉塞尔·维纳是英国皇家儿科与儿童健康学院院长。他对美联社表示：“我们知道，极少数儿童可能因新冠肺炎而重病，但这是非常罕见的情况。”

维纳还表示，这种疾病很可能由人体自然防御或免疫系统的过度反应所致。他指出，一些感染冠状病毒的成年人身上也出现了类似的症状。据报道，这些病例还具有类似于罕见血管障碍疾病川崎病的特征。川崎病的症状包括持续5天或更长时间的高体温。其他症状包括皮肤问题和颈部肿胀。

只有部分儿童的新冠肺炎检测结果呈阳性。因此，科学家不能确定这些罕见的症状是由新冠病毒还是其他原因引起。卫生官员估计，英国约有10到20例这种病例，英格兰国民保健署表示，他们正在紧急调查这些报告。

维纳表示，医生正在考虑导致这种综合征的其他可能原因，包括其他病毒或新药物。但他们对待这些病例的方式就好像他们“与新冠肺炎有关”。

西班牙儿科协会最近也发出了类似的警告。该协会告诉医生，最近几周，多名学龄儿童出现“不同寻常的”胃痛和其他胃部问题。该协会指出，这些问题可能在数小时内导致休克、低血压和心脏问题。

该协会敦促医生认清症状，并将这些患者送往医院。

在意大利，加利尼医院兼意大利儿科学会成员安吉洛·拉韦利致信1万名医学专家，提出了自已的担忧。他和团队报告称，在冠状病毒疫情严重的部分意大利地区，川崎病患者的数量出现了不寻常的增长。他指出，部分儿童感染了新冠肺炎或与确诊病例有接触。

他说：“这些儿童对传统治疗没有反应。”而且部分儿童服用了大量的类固醇药物。

詹姆斯·吉尔来自沃里克医学院。他说，虽然这些报告令人担忧，但仍然没有确凿证据证明这种罕见的综合征是由新冠肺炎引起。

他说：“无论来源为何，多系统炎症疾病对儿童和重症监护团队来说都是件严肃的事情，因此，多留意患者出现的新症状总是件好事。”

法国和比利时也报告了一些可能的病例。

迄今为止，儿童是受冠状病毒影响最小的群体之一。基于中国7.5万多例病例的数据显示，儿童在所有病例中的占比为2.4%，而且大多数儿童病例只出现了轻微症状。

世界卫生组织表示，他们正试图收集更多与冠状病毒有关的儿童新综合征的信息。但到目前为止，他们还未收到任何相关的官方报告。

皮特·穆斯图报道。