A rare but potentially deadly inflammatory syndrome believed to be related to the coronavirus has been found in 15 children in Los Angeles, officials said.

According to Los Angeles Times, 73 percent of the children are Latinos. That means 11 out of the 15 Los Angeles children contracted the inflammatory syndrome.

The multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) can cause different parts of the body to become inflamed, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

How it Affects Children

The syndrome will have symptoms like fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes and exhaustion. It can affect the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastro intestinal organs.

Most of the children, who developed MIS-C, had it two to four weeks after contracting the coronavirus, CDC said. The agency still has some questions as to why the syndrome does not infect other children, who came in contact with the coronavirus.

No one has died in Los Angeles due to the syndrome, but it has a chance to be deadly.

As of July 15, CDC recorded 342 cases and six deaths related to MIS-C. The New England Journal of Medicine described 186 patients younger than 21 years old were confirmed to have MIS-C across the United States.

Seventy percent of the patients had a lab-confirmed case of  coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prior to or at the time they had MIS-C. Most of them were treated in an intensive care unit and one in five of the patients had ventilator support.

Latinos are the largest ethnic group in Los Angeles, with about half of the county's residents. On a national scale, 70 percent of the cases on MIS-C are either Latino or Black patients.

Latino Children at Higher Risk of COVID-19

As COVID-19 continues to try to take root in California and the nation, the number of children who were and are infected by the virus is rising, especially among Latinos.

They are testing positive at higher rates than other ethnic groups of children. They account for most of California's cases of patients with ages under 18, reported the Cal Matters.

COVID-19
(Photo : by soumen82hazra from Pixabay )

Even if the state has a population where 48 percent are children, chances are two out of three Latino children tested positive for the virus. That means over 9,000 Latino children were struck by the coronavirus, according to data from the state's public health department.

Using the state data, if looking at California as a whole, minors make up eight percent of all coronavirus cases and, so far, none of them had died.

On a national scale though, over 165,000 children have tested positive of the cases and at least 58 of them have died, reported the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Medical experts believe that this is of the nature of work that most Latinos live through every day. Many Latinos are essential workers.

They have to go out and expose themselves to the coronavirus, often without protective equipment, said Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities.

There are also other factors such as lack of access to health care and their tendencies to live in close quarters.

This gets many Latinos living in the U.S. thinking: What would happen if the virus took a turn for the worst?

Want to read more? Check these out!