pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome

noun

: multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

… new reports of children with COVID-19 coming down with, and sometimes dying from, a mysterious … illness dubbed "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome" has parents understandably on edge.

—Anna Medaris Miller

Some reports are likening pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome to two rare childhood conditions, Kawasaki syndrome and toxic shock syndrome, because of certain similarities among the syndromes.

—Denise M. Baran

—abbreviation PMIS

Word History

First Known Use

2020, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome

noun

: multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

The patient at Seattle Children's whose case was reported as pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome tested positive for antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, meaning the patient had, at some point, become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.

—Evan Bush, The Seattle (Washington) Times

The total reflected 18 new cases in the city of the illness, which is known as pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome and causes life-threatening inflammation in critical organs, including the heart.

—The New York Times

—abbreviation PMIS