Back to Search
Start Over
Clinical manifestations and pathogen characteristics in children admitted for suspected COVID-19
- Source :
- Frontiers of Medicine
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Higher Education Press, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread around the world. However, approaches to distinguish COVID-19 from pneumonia caused by other pathogens have not yet been reported. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 97 children with probable COVID-19. A total of 13 (13.4%) patients were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection by nucleic acid RT-PCR testing, and 41 (42.3%) patients were found to be infected with other pathogens. Notably, no pathogen was detected in 43 (44.3%) patients. Among all patients, 25 (25.8%) had familial cluster exposure history, and 52 (53.6%) had one or more coexisting conditions. Fifteen (15.5%) patients were admitted or transferred to the PICU. In the 11 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 5 (45.5%) and 7 (63.6%) were positive for IgM and IgG against SARS-CoV-2, respectively. In 22 patients with suspected COVID-19, 1 (4.5%) was positive for IgG but negative for IgM. The most frequently detected pathogen was Mycoplasma pneumonia (29, 29.9%). One patient with confirmed COVID-19 died. Our results strongly indicated that the detection of asymptomatic COVID-19 or coexisting conditions must be strengthened in pediatric patients. These cases may be difficult to diagnose as COVID-19 unless etiologic analysis is conducted. A serologic test can be a useful adjunctive diagnostic tool in cases where SARS-CoV-2 infection is highly suspected but the nucleic acid test is negative. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s11684-020-0820-7 and is accessible for authorized users.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Male
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
medicine.medical_specialty
China
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pediatrics
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Symptom assessment
03 medical and health sciences
coronavirus disease 2019
0302 clinical medicine
COVID-19 Testing
Internal medicine
Medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Child
Pathogen
Retrospective Studies
business.industry
emergency
SARS-CoV-2
retrospective investigation
Age Factors
COVID-19
Infant
Retrospective cohort study
General Medicine
Hospitalization
030104 developmental biology
Medicine public health
Child, Preschool
Female
Symptom Assessment
business
Research Article
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20950225 and 20950217
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers of Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ed73c1fc92c08cb413d17332766928bf