Two groups of New York doctors have each reported a case of Kawasaki-like disease in adults: one in a 36-year-old woman and one in a 45-year-old man.

The Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) phenomenon that appears to be secondary to COVID-19 infection in children isn’t exactly Kawasaki disease, but it looks similar, the authors note in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

In their report, Dr Joshua Scheers-Masters of the Maimonides Medical Centre in New York City and colleagues discuss the case of a 36-year-old woman who arrived at the emergency department with a rapid heartbeat and low blood pressure after a week of fever, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea.

She also showed symptoms suggestive of Kawasaki, such as pink eye, cracked lips, swollen hands and feet, redness on the palms of her hands, a large rash and swollen lymph nodes.