Symptoms of the new type of coronavirus infection are milder among American children, and fatal disease is less common, the U.S. Center for Epidemiology and Disease Prevention (CDC) said in a report released Monday.
According to the document, the symptoms of viral infection in children are also high fever, cough, and shortness of breath, but all occur much less frequently and in a much milder form than in adults. As a result, children need to be cared for less often in hospital.
The CDC did not explain the phenomenon, it only collected the data. It examined about 150,000 cases and analyzed information about patients registered by U.S. laboratories from February 12 to April 2. Among them, 2,500 minors were infected, and although three died, most of them did not become seriously ill.
One in five infected children had to be hospitalized, while this rate was higher among viral adults: one in three adults needed hospital treatment. The disease was more severe in older children and adolescents, or in infants and very young, and was more common in little boys than in little girls.
The authors of the report have warned that data on children’s illnesses are not yet a meaningful analysis, as many details are not available.
Evaluating the CDC document, Dr. Larry Kociolek, an infectious disease specialist at a children’s hospital in Chicago, told reporters that these first data could reassure parents that their children are safer and, even if caught, will survive coronavirus infection more easily.
A report was also released on Monday by the US news agency AP and the NORC public policy research institute. In their joint survey, they found that the consequences of the epidemic also depend on age and income conditions.
(Source: seniormagazin.co.hu; marmalade.co.hu; hirado.hu | Image: pixabay.com)