Correspondence on: ‘Paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 mimicking Kawasaki disease (Kawa-COVID-19): a multicentre cohort’ by Poulettyet al

We read with interest the article by Pouletty et al ,1 in which the authors describe a multicentre compilation of patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) in France, associated with the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Other colleagues in Europe and USA have recently reported similar experiences.2–5 We report a prospective case series of paediatric patients that fulfilled clinical diagnostic criteria of KD during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a paediatric referral centre in Barcelona, Spain. KD was defined according to the 2017 criteria of the American Heart Association.6 Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 infection was made by means of quantitative real-time PCR assay (GeneFinder COVID-19 Plus, Elitech; Puteaux, France) in nasopharyngeal samples; stools were tested in patients with diarrhoea. SARS-CoV-2 IgG qualitative determination (SARS-CoV-2 IgG chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay; Abbot, Chicago, Illinois) was performed during admission. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V.25 (IBM). Informed consent was obtained from parents or legal guardians, as was informed assent in patients aged >12 years. From March 23 to May 14, twelve previously healthy patients with KD were admitted to our institution (table 1). The yearly number of patients with KD diagnosed in our centre is around 10–12. Prior to diagnosis, several patients reported gastrointestinal symptoms (10/12, 83.3%; vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain) and neurological symptoms (5/12, 41.6%; irritability, headache, decreased consciousness and febrile seizures). Only patient 10 was referred with respiratory symptoms …