UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children

Category: Pediatrics

Keywords: pandemic, coronavirus, pediatric (PubMed Search)

Posted: 3/20/2020 by Jenny Guyther, MD (Updated: 11/12/2024)
Click here to contact Jenny Guyther, MD

New information is coming out each day.  Below is just a sample of some of the recent data in children.
 
SARS-CoV2 Infection in Children - Lu et al
- 1391 Children in China were tested between 1/28-2/26/20. 171 were positive. 
- Fever was present in 41.5 % of infected children at some time during their illness course
- 3 patients required ICU care
- 27 patients did not have any symptoms or pneumonia on chest xray
 
Infant COVID Study - Wei et al
-2 month retrospective review
-9 infants under 1 year tested positive for COVID during this time period
-3/9 asymptomatic, 4/9 fever only, 2/9 mild URI symptoms
 
Children COVID Study - Xai et al
-2 week retrospective review
-20 children, all inpatients 
-12/20 fever (60%), 13/20 cough (65%)
-Coinfection pathogens: influenza A, B, mycoplasma, CMV, RSV 
 
Bottom line: Children appear to be less severely affected than adults and with a different symptom pattern.  Coinfection with other respiratory viral pathogens can occur.

 

References

Lu et al.  Correspondence: SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children.  NEJM. Accessed online 3/19/20 at https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2005073.
Wei et al.  Research Letter: Novel Coronavirus Infection in Hospitalized Infants Under 1 Year of Age in China.  JAMA.  Published online February 14, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.2131.
Xai et al.  Clinical and CT features in pediatric patients with COVID-19 infection: Different points from adults.  Pediatric Pulmonary.  2020; 1-6.