Millions of kids have long COVID and symptoms can be "heartbreaking"

Up to 5.8 cardinal young group person long COVID, according to a caller study — and parents for illustration Amanda Goodhart are looking for answers. 

She says her 6-year aged boy Logan caught COVID aggregate times. But moreover months later, his symptoms didn't get better.

"To spot him struggle to enactment awake, aliases crying and saying he doesn't consciousness good, it's heartbreaking, it's demoralizing, because there's not a batch of curen options," she told CBS News. 

Study writer Dr. Rachel Gross of NYU's Grossman School of Medicine says 1 awesome situation successful search nan unwellness is that symptoms tin vary.

"Long COVID tin look different successful different children, that not everybody has nan aforesaid symptoms and that it tin look different depending connected erstwhile nan symptoms start," she says.

Some communal long COVID symptoms successful kids include: 

• Headache
• Loss of sensation and smell
• Brain fog
• Pain

Logan has besides been dealing pinch circulatory and gastrointestinal problems, and he gets tired moreover from things for illustration opinionated successful line.

• Adults pinch agelong COVID whitethorn person these 12 symptoms, study finds

Doctors opportunity astir children pinch agelong COVID retrieve complete respective months, but astir a 3rd acquisition symptoms moreover 1 twelvemonth later. 

Goodhart says it's been frustrating, adding they've tried aggregate treatments pinch only mean improvement.

"It's terrible, there's thing worse than seeing your kid spell done thing you can't fix," she says.

The investigation besides shows agelong COVID tin raise nan chances of a kid processing type 1 diabetes. And it tin moreover beryllium deadly, starring to multisystem inflammatory syndrome successful children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes nan syndrome arsenic a "rare but superior information associated pinch COVID-19 successful which different assemblage parts go inflamed, including nan heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, aliases gastrointestinal organs."

"This study was urgently needed because location are truthful galore questions that request to beryllium answered astir pediatric agelong COVID," Gross says.

The Goodharts dream much attraction is fixed to studying long COVID truthful much effective treatments tin beryllium found. 

In:
• COVID-19
• COVID-19 Pandemic
• Children