MISC COVID-19 Study in Pediatric Population

Rationale: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Coronavirus - 2 (SARS-CoV2) and its related Coronavirus Disease - 19 (COVID-19) has become a health emergency worldwide. The medical community has been concerned since the beginning of the outbreak about the potential impact of COVID-19 in children, especially in those with underlying chronic diseases. Fortunately, COVID-19 has been reported to be less severe in children than in adults. Unfortunately, a new multisystem inflammatory syndrome apparently related to infection with SARS-CoV-2 has recently been reported in older children (known as MIS-C), manifested by severe abdominal pain, cardiac dysfunction and shock. However, the SARS-CoV2 infection and the underlying immunology of COVID-19, its correlation with disease severity and MIS-C in children is not fully explored. Objectives: To perform systems immunology and strain diversity among SARS-CoV2 and MIS-C infected children. Study design: Cross sectional study. Study population: Children attending outpatients units and admitted in wards in pediatric hospitals in Chennai. Main study parameters/endpoints: Immune responses in children with SARS-CoV2 infection and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) infection and its association of SARS-CoV2 viral diversity.