COVID-19 in Pediatrics: A Diagnostic Challenge

Amal A Mohamed; Nouran Mohamed; Sherief Abd-Elsalam; Sanaa Mohammed ElSadek; Hoda Hegazy Ahmed; Hams Ahmed Taha; Gamil K Mohamed; Doaa Refaey Soliman

doi:10.2174/1573396317666210329153515

COVID-19 in Pediatrics: A Diagnostic Challenge

Curr Pediatr Rev. 2021;17(3):225-228. doi: 10.2174/1573396317666210329153515.

Authors

Amal A Mohamed¹, Nouran Mohamed², Sherief Abd-Elsalam³, Sanaa Mohammed ElSadek⁴, Hoda Hegazy Ahmed⁵, Hams Ahmed Taha⁶, Gamil K Mohamed⁷, Doaa Refaey Soliman⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry, National Hepatology Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
² Faculty of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt.
³ Tropical Medicine Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
⁴ Departments of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine for Grils, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁵ Departments of Pediatrics, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Al Azahar University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁷ Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al Azahar University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁸ Departments of pediatric, Benha Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt.

PMID: 33781192
DOI: 10.2174/1573396317666210329153515

Abstract

Most pediatric patients with COVID-19 described in the literature have unusual or mild respiratory symptoms. Fever is usually a prominent feature. Cough is described frequently. Less common are sore throat, headache, productive cough, nausea, and diarrhea. Some studies estimate that children made up about 2% of the affected population. Nearly 1.2% of infected children need hospital treatment and some children require mechanical ventilation. The immune system in children is in its development stage, therefore the immune response to pathogens is different from adults.

Keywords: Viruses; antibodies; children.; immunity; respiratory Infection; ventilation.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Child
Cough
Fever
Humans
Pediatrics*
SARS-CoV-2