COVID-19 infection in children and adolescents.
Br J Hosp Med (Lond)
; 81(8): 1-10, 2020 Aug 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-743028
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has predominantly affected the adult population. The disease is less well-defined in children (≤18 years). This review summarises the current understanding of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management of COVID-19 in children and adolescents. The prevalence of COVID-19 is significantly lower in children than adults, but paediatric disease is likely underdiagnosed as a result of the high numbers of asymptomatic or mild cases. Children are vulnerable to family cluster outbreaks, but are unlikely to be index cases within a household. Vertical transmission or breast milk transmission are yet to be proven. Between 10 and 90% of paediatric COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic. Symptomatic cases typically present with mild symptoms, including cough, fever and sore throat. Intensive care admission and mortality are rare. Paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19 is a rare, but severe, newly emerging phenotype. At present, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 in adults or children; management is usually supportive. For severe or critical disease, including paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19, the decision to start antiviral or immunomodulatory therapy should be on a case-by-case basis; in the UK, this should be done within a clinical trial. Further research is needed into both the disease course and treatment of paediatric COVID-19.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Br J Hosp Med (Lond)
Journal subject:
Hospitals
/
Medicine
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Hmed.2020.0321
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