Although previous studies confirm that children are the least age-groups vulnerable to infection with the emerging coronavirus, and those who are infected, the symptoms are mild and there are no dangerous cases, except a new study found that children are highly vulnerable to infection with the virus with serious symptoms accompanying.
The study, published in the journal "Pediatrics", conducted more than 2000 sick children under the age of 18 throughout China as the epidemic began, providing a clearer picture of how the youngest patients are affected by the virus.
About half of the children who have been infected with the virus have mild symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, cough, congestion and possibly nausea or diarrhea, and the study found more than a third - about 39 per cent - of patients experienced additional symptoms including pneumonia or lung problems detected by imaging CT, but with no apparent shortness of breath.
Xilu Tong, chief study researcher, director of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics said that 125 children of the study had very severe symptoms, and a 14-year-old boy died of the infection, and 13 children were about to fail the respiratory system , While the injury of others was classified as severe because they suffer from serious respiratory problems.
For his part, Dr. Srinivas Murthy, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, said: "What the study tells us is that hospitals must prepare for some pediatric patients because we cannot completely rule out their injury."
Dr. Murthy added: "The main conclusion is that children have rates that may be close to adults, with much less severity."
Infants are more likely
The study stated that more than 60% of the 125 children who had serious or critical symptoms were five or younger, and 40% of these were infants under the age of 12 months.
Dr. Tong said he believed that younger children are more susceptible to infection because the respiratory system and other body functions are developing rapidly.
In turn, Dr. Andrea Cruz, associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and co-authored a commentary on the study, said that pre-school children and infants are more likely to get sick because their immune system is immature.
"They have not been exposed to viruses before, so they cannot perform an effective immune response."
Previous theories
Previous theories have confirmed that the cause of reduced infection among children is that the receptors or proteins in the human cells to which the viral particles are linked, which are called "ACE2" receptors, may not be developed in children compared to adults or may have a different shape, which may make It is more difficult for viruses to enter, bind to and reproduce cells.
Another theory, Dr Cruz said, is that "most children have two healthier lungs" than adults.
It is also possible, experts say, that children’s immune systems do not rise to attack the virus as adults ’immune systems do. Doctors have discovered that some of the severe damage to adults was caused not only by the virus itself, but also by the aggressive immune response that it creates devastating inflammation in the body's organs.
While the new study denies the validity of these theories, proves the existence of serious cases of infection among children, and raises many questions about the injury of children