Children's Symptoms with a Febrile Illness and a Positive or Negative Test of SARS-CoV-2 during the Omicron Wave.

Febrile infections are common in childhood. Children can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, but their course is milder than in adults. So far, a comparison between febrile infections with a positive or negative Corona test with the Omicron variant is missing. The data used are from the FeverApp registry, which collects parent-reported data on febrile infections in children and informs about fever management. A comparison of symptomatic differences between episodes with a positive or negative Corona test was performed using Χ2-tests. During the Omicron wave, reported tests doubled and positive test results nearly 12-folded. In episodes with positive Corona saliva tests, more cough, fatigue, disturbed smell/taste, limb pain, sore throat, signs of serious sickness, and touch sensitivity were reported. Children with a negative Corona test show more tonsillitis, teething, any pain symptoms, earaches, and rashes. Thus, there are some significant differences between febrile infections with a positive or negative Corona test, but symptoms are present on both sides. The omicron variant seems to be more infectious than the alpha or delta variants in children, but the symptoms remain mild and do not differ much from other febrile infections.

[The FeverApp Registry - A Way to Empower Parents through their Own Documentation to a Graduated Decision]. / Das FieberApp Register ­ ein Weg, um Eltern durch eigene Dokumentation zu einer abgestuften Entscheidung zu führen.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To demonstrate the feasibility and exemplarity of an app-based parent registry. METHODS: The app as an elaborated interactive electronic case report form and the underlying data structure of the registry are presented. The initial recruitment efforts are illustrated and the temperature distribution, as well as the distribution of fever events in 2020, are analyzed. RESULTS: The FeverApp successfully collects data into a central registry. Like every study, it also provides information on the current knowledge. The ecological momentary assessment can represent the illness situation at several levels (measurement, fever episode, individual, family, practice, country). Methods for data collection needed to be developed in a flexible manner due to pandemic conditions. The initial recruitment goal of 2400 fever phases in the first two years was met, with nationwide dissemination pending. It is shown that body temperature does not rise indefinitely; fevers reach an average of 39 degrees without antipyretics, although in rare cases temperatures beyond 41 degrees are reached without harm. Furthermore, a comparison with a reference practice shows that fever episodes can be recorded more comprehensively in the app, including infections that do not come to the presentation in a pediatrician's office. Thus, the FeverApp fulfills in a model-like fashion the use of registers in persons basically healthy and maps a multi-level diagnostics. CONCLUSION: The FeverApp could basically establish itself as a supporting tool, the registry can reliably collect data with the method used and maps the current infection situation. In researching the question of how infections develop in the post-Covid period, the app could perform an important task.