COVID-19: lessons to date from China.
Arch Dis Child
; 105(12): 1146-1150, 2020 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-257265
ABSTRACT
The pandemic due to a novel coronavirus has been sweeping across different regions of the globe since January 2020. Early reports of this infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) consisted of mostly adult patients. As the outbreak spreads rapidly beyond the epicentre of Wuhan, it becomes clear that infants and children of all ages are susceptible to this infection. In China, there have been more than 1200 paediatric cases. Most paediatric patients acquire the infection through household contact with infected adults. The disease in children is usually self-limiting and most infected children will recover uneventfully within 7-10 days. Other than symptoms of the respiratory tract, many children may present with gastrointestinal symptoms. Older children are more likely to have asymptomatic infection. Although deaths related to SARS-CoV-2 are rarely reported in the paediatric age group, young children and those with underlying medical conditions are more likely to develop severe illness. Only a small fraction of neonates born to infected mother would acquire the virus by vertical transmission. Because a large proportion of children and adolescents may have asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infection, children are likely to play an important role in community transmission of this infection. Screening of children who have a definitive contact history will facilitate early diagnosis and isolation of all infected children. This review summarises the lessons learned in China with regard to the current understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the paediatric population.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Communicable Disease Control
/
Asymptomatic Infections
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
/
Infant, Newborn
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Arch Dis Child
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Archdischild-2020-319261
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