Egypt free from Kawasaki disease: Cabinet

CAIRO - 10 July 2020:  Egypt’s Cabinet, on Friday, denied rumors claiming that kawasaki disease cases were reported among children in Egypt, saying such reports are “groundless.”

The cabinet said in a statement that the Egyptian Ministry of Health has an effective epidemiological surveillance program.

Few days ago, rumors were circulated on social media platforms claiming that eight children in Egypt suffer from the rare kawasaki disease.

On June 18, Algeria reported the first case of kawasaki disease for a 32-month old child, according to the Algerian Press Service. Some European countries like the U.K and Italy have reported that some children, who were infected with novel coronavirus (COVID-19), suffered from Kawasaki-like symptoms such as fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and shock.

The World Health Organization said in a report on May 15, that some children, who were in the ICU, suffer “multisystem inflammatory conditions with some features similar to those of Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome.”

“Initial hypotheses are that this syndrome may be related to COVID-19 based on initial laboratory testing showing positive serology in a majority of patients,” WHO said, calling for collecting data on similar cases.