Long Covid in children

MEA Comment

This was a well balanced interview that discussed Long Covid in children. Dr Binita Kane also talked about other post-viral conditions and ME/CFS and said that more research is needed for both. She briefly talked about Long Covid and ME/CFS in adults, and the research that has completed to date. 

We are pleased that Dr Kane focused on post-exertional malaise (PEM) and understood its significance as a key symptom affecting people with Long Covid and ME/CFS. She promoted pacing and energy management as the best way to manage Long Covid in regard to physical and mental activity, as it is for people with ME/CFS. 

Dr Kane said that graded exercise had been taken out of the NICE Clinical Guideline on ME/CFS and that these conditions are not psychological, although she accepts the impact of any physical illness can obviously cause mental health problems as people struggle to cope in the absence of any effective treatment.

As a parent of a child with Long Covid, she provided examples of how the condition can be managed for children of school age and how educational needs might be adapted. The programme also provided information on Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

Dr Kane provided a sound overview of Long Covid research and management options, and cautioned against certain experimental treatments. She ensured the audience understood that the information given in the interview was not a replacement for medical advice or advice from a child's paediatrician.

Russell Fleming
Head of Communications. The ME Association.