COVID MIS-C: 5-year-old girl in Indiana almost dies from coronavirus-related illness

OAK LAWN, Ill. (WLS) – An inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 that is a mystery to most doctors nearly claimed the life of a young girl in northwest Indiana.

Janiya Johnson, 5, of Portage, Indiana was diagnosed a few months ago with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C.

MIS-C is a rare, diagnosed disease that typically occurs four to six weeks after a child’s exposure to COVID-19. Janiya is feeling better now, but her parents say she was lucky to have been diagnosed when she was.

“The doctor told us that if we had waited another day, she might not have been able to do anything for her. So it’s a scary moment, ”said Oshunda Johnson, her mother.

Janiya’s family never even knew she had COVID. She then tested positive for antibodies. Her symptoms included vomiting, fever, stomach and neck pain, and her kidneys and liver began to fail.

“She’s full of energy. She’s just ready to go,” said her father, Johnathan Johnson. “And it was just different when she wanted to lie down and fall asleep.”

Eventually, she was diagnosed at the Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, where she was found in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

“Many of these children require intensive care management in one of our pediatric intensive care units,” said Dr. Frank Belmonte, Chief Medical Officer of Advocate Children’s Hospital. “They need IV fluids. A lot of them will need steroids or other anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce inflammation.”

With anti-inflammatory drugs and other medications, Janiya made a full recovery. Her family and their doctors are now warning others about this condition which disproportionately affects minorities.

“We know that about a third of the children who get it are of Latin descent, and about a third are of African American descent, so we want these communities to be very aware of that,” Dr Belmonte said.

About 2,000 children in the United States have been diagnosed with MIS-C. Much is still unknown about MIS-C, including why Janiya and other children got sick, and others not.