VOA慢速英语--医生警告可能与儿童冠状病毒有关的疾病

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 severely¹ 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 immune² system. And he noted³ 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 vessel⁴ disorder⁵ 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 swollen⁶ 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 syndrome⁷, 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 affected⁸ 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.

Words in This Story

inflammatory – adj. causing or having

symptom(s) – n. a condition in which a part of your body becomes red, swollen, and painful

swollen – adj. the state of being larger than normal

syndrome – n. a disease or disorder that involves a particular group of signs and symptoms

respond – v. to have a good or desired reaction to something

mild – adj. not harsh or severe

1 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

2 immune   

adj.免疫的，有免疫力的，不受影响的，免除的

参考例句：

• I am immune from the disease,for I had it once.我对这病有免疫力，因为我已得过一次了。
• Be immune from corruption.拒腐蚀，永不沾。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

5 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

6 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。