NEW DELHI: Detection of COVID-19 in children for early treatment could be a challenge as most exhibit mild symptoms, showed a new research.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine, is one of the first studies to assess impact of the new disease among children.
The team screened as many as 745 children (2 months-15 years) and 3,174 adults from China for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of them had close contact with confirmed patients or were members of families which had positive cases. But, only ten children (1.3%) and 111 adults (3.5%) were found to be positive.
All showed mild symptoms -- seven had fever which did not go beyond 39 ºC and some instances of coughing, sore throat and nasal congestion which are only mild symptoms.
High fever, muscle ache and headache, symptoms commonly seen in adult patients were not recorded often among children. The chest X-rays also lacked clear signs of pneumonia- a key feature of the COVID-19 infection in adults.
Most of the positive cases among children were identified and later diagnosed on the basis of their exposure history, rather than clinical symptoms, said the team. India too had confirmed a positive case of a child, aged three years, who contracted the disease on his return to Kerala from Italy with his parents.
Although all the ten children recovered from the illness and were discharged, scientists said the lack of symptoms makes the early detection and isolation of children extremely difficult.
Scientists have also detected the virus in the faecal samples of the confirmed cases, and found that it stayed there for longer period, even after the nose and throat swabs had tested negative. It remains unclear if the virus can be transmitted via faecal matter.
“However, gastrointestinal-tract testing could help provide more accurate assessments of treatment effectiveness and recovery from the disease,” according to the team.
The outbreak which erupted in mainland China in late December has infected over 1.69 lakh people in over 125 nations across the world, killing over 6,500.
According to WHO, the virus has a mean incubation period of five days and it is the elderly and those fighting other medical conditions who are at most risk of severe illness from the new Coronavirus. The data of infections among children remains scarce.
