Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Surveillance and COVID-19 in Latin America.

Abstract

To the Editors: As of August 24, 2020, a total of 23,800,692 cases and 816,534 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported worldwide,1 and Latin America has become the new pandemic epicenter. Globally, 5 Latin American countries are among the top 10 in terms of total cases: Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. Of these, Brazil and Mexico are among the 3 leading countries with more deaths globally. Therefore, urgent indexed publications are needed from Latin America, including those related to children. We read the recent call for data for South America by Antúnez-Montes2 and investigators from 6 Latin American countries and Italy and agree on the need for regional data. However, we call for the inclusion and expansion of research in more centers from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and other South American countries. In August 2020, the REKAMLATINA network (Red de Enfermedad de Kawasaki en América Latina) started the REKAMLATINA-3 study, an ambispective multinational study focused on MIS-C in Latin American children and adolescents. Ours is the largest multinational multicenter integrated Kawasaki disease research network, in terms of number of pediatric subspecialties (11), researchers (304), and countries (20): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.3,4 To date, investigators from 161 main pediatric and general referral hospitals have confirmed their participation. MIS-C cases have been reported so far in all Latin American countries of the network (unpublished data, REKAMLATINA researchers’ personal communications). However, few specific MIS-C reports have been published5 and overwhelming COVID-19-related work, time limitations, and English-language barriers have been and will be major obstacles for multicenter publications from Latin America. To obtain robust data for this study, we have integrated investigators from REKAMLATINA, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Infectología Pediátrica (SLIPE), Asociación Latinoamericana de Pediatría (ALAPE), Sociedad Latinoamericana de Emergencia Pediátrica (SLEPE), Red de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Emergencia Pediátrica Latinoamericana (RIDEPLA), Latin American Pediatric Intensive Care Network (LARed Network), Sociedad Latinoamericana de Cuidados Intenstivos Pediátricos (SLACIP), and other national and international infectious disease societies, including European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, World Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Infectious Diseases Society of America. Our study is open to all interested researchers and details on how to participate can be provided by the authors.