CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL FEATURES OF COVID-19 IN CHILDREN FOR THE PERIOD 2020-2022.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children for the period 2020-2022. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of 1144 case histories of children who were hospitalized at the St. Zinaida Children's Clinical Hospital (Sumy, Ukraine) for coronavirus disease for 2020-2022 was carried out. The observed patients were divided into 3 groups corresponding to the 3 waves of the pandemic: group 1 - 120 children, group 2 - 311 children, and group 3 - 713. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was established based on clinical, medical histories, laboratory and instrumental data. The etiology of coronavirus disease was determined based on the detection of antigens of the SARS-CoV-2 virus using PCR reverse transcription of a nasopharyngeal swab. RESULTS: Results: An analysis of the clinical and epidemiological indicators of children who were treated for COVID-19 during 2020-2022 was conducted, depending on the outbreak of the pandemic. The frequency of lesions in children of different age groups was determined, and the main clinical symptoms and the frequency of complications in the form of pneumonia during different waves of COVID-19 were determined. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The incidence of coronavirus infection was mainly observed in children of the younger group (0-5 years). A more severe course of the disease and a higher frequency of complications in the form of pneumonia in children were determined during the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acute three-vessel cervical arterial occlusion due to spontaneous quadruple cervical artery dissection.

Cervical artery dissection (CAD) is one of the most frequent causes (14.5%) of stroke in young adults. Cases with involvement of more than two arteries are rare. Arnold et al described 11 cases (1.5%) with triple CAD of a reported 740 patients and just a single (0.1%) quadruple case in the same population. Simultaneous dissection of the four principal vessels is extremely rare. According to Papagiannaki et al, the incidence of simultaneous three or four CADs is 1-3/million in the general population. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three published cases of spontaneous quadruple CAD.