Objective: This study describes the characteristics of children requiring admission with an acute lower-respiratory disease (ALRD) during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemics.
Methods: Epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological data from patients with ALRD (pneumonia, bronchiolitis, bronchospasm) admitted to a reference paediatric hospital in Spain during the pandemic peak (week 11-20/2020) were prospectively analysed.
Results: 110 patients were included. 7 were SARS-CoV-2(+) and they were older in comparison to SARS-CoV-2(-). Among SARS-CoV-2(+) patients, pneumonia was the main clinical diagnosis (6/7) and bronchospasm was absent. Only 1 of 29 infants diagnosed with bronchiolitis was SARS-CoV-2(+). Lower values of leucocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and platelets and higher values of creatinine were found in SARS-CoV-2(+). Human-rhinovirus/enterovirus was the main detection (11/32). There were not differences in PICU admission rates between SARS-CoV-2(+) and (-).
Conclusions: Most of the ALRD episodes identified during the pandemics were not related to SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 was mainly found causing pneumonia in older children.
Keywords: Bronchiolitis; COVID-19; Pneumonia; Respiratory viral infections; SARS-CoV-2.
Copyright © 2020 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.