Covid-19 is generally mild in children under the age of five, a conclusion from an international research team following a review of 65 studies of cases of coronavirus infection.
A group led by researchers at the University of New South Wales in a study published in the scientific journal Vaccine highlighted that a meta-analysis of the international scientific literature on Covid-19 confirmed that children under the age of five were likely to recover from the infection. Half of the coronavirus-infected children in this age group are younger than one year of age and the same proportion of asymptomatic people are under the age of five.
These findings will help take action toward a vaccination program for children against Covid-19 and to define an immunization schedule for expectant mothers, the university said in a statement.
“Covid-19 data for the entire population, including children under the age of 18, are reviewed regularly, but this has not been the case specifically for children under the age of five,” said Nusrat Homaira, a university researcher and lead author of the study.
We focused on children under the age of five because this is the most risky group for respiratory infections and most children end up in hospital because of these infections. In addition, children are often asymptomatic and play an important role in the community spread of the disease, he explained.
The 65 studies, selected from around 2,000 studies, looked at 1,214 children under the age of five who had been diagnosed with coronavirus infection in the first wave of the epidemic in countries and regions such as the United States, China, Europe, the Middle East and eastern region.
Boys, like adults, had a higher rate of infection, at 53 percent. Forty-three percent of the cases were asymptomatic, seven percent were severe, requiring intensive ward treatment. “Only one death was recorded, a ten-month-old baby girl who had no chronic illness and could not be linked to a previously known case of Covid-19,” the researcher explained in detail.
Homaira admitted that research was submitted in August and only published in December due to a lengthy peer review. “However, the results of new research on this age group since then do not differ from what our study revealed,” he noted.
(Source: biokalauz.co.hu; marmalade.co.hu; MTI | Image: pixabay.com)