What is MIP-C, who does it affect, and what are its symptoms

The new deadly disease that has emerged among patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is called MIP-C. This syndrome was discovered through analysis of clinical data from patients from Yorkshire, and emerged with the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the most worrying aspects of this discovery is the fact that the disease can not only be fatal – eight deaths out of sixty cases have been recorded – but it can also affect those who have had a mild or asymptomatic infection.

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I study

also called “MDA5 autoimmunity and contemporary COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia” or MIP-C — by analogy with MIS-C, another COVID-related autoimmune disease affecting children — is similar to the rare autoimmune syndrome known as anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis, a condition Extremely rare in the UK and usually diagnosed in people coming from the Far East, particularly China and Japan, it was conducted by an international research team led by scientists from the Departments of Medicine and Molecular Cellular Medicine at the University of California – San Diego (US) and the Department of Rheumatology at the University of Leeds (UK). United) when Professor Denis McGonagle of the English University contacted his colleague Pradipta Ghosh after noticing a mysterious increase in cases of anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis in 2021, the second year of the Covid pandemic.

the disease

According to experts, MIP-C will be a rare autoimmune, inflammatory and chronic disease, with consequences mainly on the skin, muscles and lungs, which could lead to a rapidly progressive and potentially fatal interstitial lung syndrome. The disease is caused by antibodies that attack an enzyme called MDA5 (melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5), a sensitive RNA receptor capable of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and other RNA viruses. The disease is closely related to Covid-19, which is why researchers immediately suspected… There is a relationship between the two. Regarding the number of cases, it specifically increased from 0.4 percent in 2019 to 2.1 percent in 2020, then to 4.8 percent in 2021, then decreased to 1.7 percent in 2022.

symptoms

In addition to scars on the lungs – which were discovered in 25 cases out of 60 – the patients were analyzed by Professor McGonagle. They had rheumatic symptoms such as arthritis, myalgia, and a widespread skin rash. Through a computational model to analyze big data, scientists found that patients with higher levels of the autoimmune reaction to the MDA5 enzyme also had higher levels of interleukin 15, a cytokine associated with progressive interstitial lung disease/pulmonary fibrosis. However, not all treated patients had complete SARS-CoV-2 infection, i.e. detected through oropharyngeal swabs after symptoms appeared. This is a fact that has led scientists to believe that even mild infection with Covid-19 It would therefore be able to induce a distinct form of anti-MDA5-positive dermatomyositis, which experts have dubbed MIP-C. Unlike those known for more than half a century, the syndrome caused by an epidemic pathogen differs “in rate of progression, mortality and behavior.” According to experts, the new disease has also spread outside the United Kingdom, although there is currently no specific data.