Children account for a small proportion of diagnoses of SARS-CoV-2 infection and do not exhibit greater viral loads than adults

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2020 Oct;39(10):1983-1987. doi: 10.1007/s10096-020-03900-0. Epub 2020 Aug 26.

Abstract

Previous reports have suggested that children are less affected than adults by SARS-CoV-2. We analyzed SARS-CoV-2 diagnoses between February 27, 2020, and March 14, 2020, and mortality among positive patients in Marseille university hospitals. Of 4050 tested individuals, 228 were positive. Deaths occurred in 2/99 documented cases (both > 85 year-old). Children were majorly asymptomatic. Incidence increased by 7.4-fold between 1-5 and 45-65 years then decreased. It was significantly lower among 0-1 year- (0%) and 1-5 (1.1%) and 5-10 (3.6%)-year-old children than among subjects > 18 years (6.5%). Viral loads did not differ between children and adults. Children may not contribute significantly to virus circulation.

Keywords: Children; Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; Transmission; Viral load.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Asymptomatic Diseases
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / mortality
  • Coronavirus Infections / physiopathology*
  • Female
  • France / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / physiopathology*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Survival Analysis
  • Viral Load*