COVID 19 has relatively spared children from the most severe complications and death but a very tiny number get a severe complication called multi-system inflammatory response (MIS-C). For these children, they experience the hyper inflammation with life threatening complications. Sometimes 4 to 6 weeks after an otherwise mild infection, these children start with fever, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, rashes, heart, and neurological symptoms. These children do relatively well if diagnosed early and treated appropriately, but why this happens has been a mystery. Yale researchers report their findings to explain MIS-C in this paper.
One of the mysteries has been the fact that the virus is long gone at the time of the symptoms. Their immune system appears to be causing the problem. Something is different, but what? The Yale group performed an exhaustive comparison of children with MIS-C versus children without MIS-C and with adults with or without COVID. With this arduous work they uncovered that several immune markers stood out as distinct in the MIS-C patients.
In the children with MIS-C, immune cells, antibodies, and cytokines were different.
The differences include:
Higher levels of alarmins which raise inflammation
Increased perforin and Granzyme A activity in Natural Killer Cells
Faster multiplying Memory CD8 T cells
Faster multiplying Plasmoblasts which make antibodies
Antibodies against the endothelium of blood vessels.
Without trying to explain all the science behind this, basically the immune system gets stuck in a hyperactive mode and seems to result in ongoing tissue damage. The antibodies against the endothelium of blood vessels may play a large role in the actual symptoms. In another article I reviewed recently here, Post COVID patients have higher levels of damage to endothelium cells which is believed to contribute to the Long Hauler Syndrome. These endothelial cells normally keep blood inside the vessels and only allow certain substances or cells to leave the blood stream into the local tissues. With antibody attacks on the endothelium, swelling, bleeding, blood clotting, and local inflammation may occur.
In functional medicine, we are accustomed to considering these various arms of the immune system and their resulting symptoms experienced by patients. We regularly treat the hyperinflammation of Lyme, mold toxicity, EBV, other toxins, and other viruses. From another lecture I recently heard, the other piece of this puzzle, especially in Long COVID, may be mast cells which are another immune cell involved in inflammation. Still, our functional medicine knowledge depends on these researchers spending countless hours working with complex equipment and experiments to reveal these hidden medical truths.
In helping others lead healthier more abundant lives, we will continue to work with both conventional and natural therapies. Preparing patient’s health by removing toxins, lowering pre-existing inflammation, and optimizing the immune system may prevent MIS-C or long hauler COVID, but when these conditions do occur, we will use the best of natural and conventional medicine to restore health.
Original Article:
Anjali Ramaswamy, Nina N. Brodsky, Tomokazu S. Sumida, Michela Comi, Hiromitsu Asashima, Kenneth B. Hoehn, Ningshan Li, Yunqing Liu, Aagam Shah, Neal G. Ravindra, Jason Bishai, Alamzeb Khan, William Lau, Brian Sellers, Neha Bansal, Pamela Guerrerio, Avraham Unterman, Victoria Habet, Andrew J. Rice, Jason Catanzaro, Harsha Chandnani, Merrick Lopez, Naftali Kaminski, Charles S. Dela Cruz, John S. Tsang, Zuoheng Wang, Xiting Yan, Steven H. Kleinstein, David van Dijk, Richard W. Pierce, David A. Hafler, Carrie L. Lucas. Immune dysregulation and autoreactivity correlate with disease severity in SARS-CoV-2-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Immunity, 2021; 54 (5): 1083 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2021.04.003
Thanks to Science Daily:
Yale University. “Rare COVID-19 response in children explained.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 May 2021. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210517124706.htm>.
Read Long Hauler COVID Immune Dysfunction by Dr. Eric Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr F. Wrote papers after Spanish flu stated most deaths caused by bacterial pneumonia from mask wearing causing bacterial pneumonia deaths.Gates Father [ a ROCAFELLER] was in charge at DARPA DURING SPANISH FLU [ HE REQUIRED MASKS FOR ALL,HE HAD A VAX] [ ALL VAXED DIED] INSTANT REPLAY? WITH 5G AND ETHELINE OXIDE LINK = HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC MICROWAVE FREQUENCY RADIATION EXPOSURE =RADIATION POISON ,causing bacterial pneumonia from mask wearing and radiation sickness hypoxia and thrombosis etc? Has to be in synthetic M-rna modifications listed as unknown parasitic component to illness [ hcq and lvermectin work for immediate symptoms and prevention so far] ? Read African articles regarding several parasitic elements added to shot transferrance via airborne to others .[ even non shot people] CDC not tracking numbers of adverse effects or deaths any longer past few months. Vaers = 1% representing of true numbers. Pregnant women [ Dr’s have standing orders to inject ALL pregnant women immediately in office. New order .