How seriously do children get coronavirus? How safe are kindergarten and school? The answers of a medical professor at the University Children’s Clinic in Würzburg are surprising.
Back to the daycare center for all children in Bavaria. While many parents breathe a sigh of relief, others let their offspring return with discomfort. Because it is still unclear: are children as contagious as adults? How severe is corona disease in young patients?
Scientists worldwide are discussing and arguing about the answers. A group of researchers from the University Children’s Clinic in Würzburg headed by the head of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Professor Johannes Liese, evaluated data from over 2,500 sick children from China and Germany: from infants to seven-year-olds who had been hospitalized for corona disease in clinics. In the interview, Johannes Liese says what surprised him.
Question: Mr. Liese, are children virus hurlers when it comes to the corona virus?
Prof. Johannes Liese: We don’t know that at this point. There are simply not enough studies that include children or that have been carried out in daycare centers and schools.
Virologist Christian Drosten of the Berlin Charité, despite his argument with the Bild newspaper and other virologists, maintains that children are as infectious as adults. Is he wrong?
Liese: Christian Drosten’s statement has to be explained. He found about the same amount of virus in children in children as in adults in the nasal and pharynx – where the virus can be detected by a smear. He didn’t say he was sure that children would automatically be just as contagious.
What speaks against being as contagious as adults?
Liese: This is contradicted by the fact that children can not cough as much as adults and thus can spread the virus less strongly in the room. On the other hand, this is supported by the fact that children are more sociable than adults and less respect distance rules. So we need more studies.
Her team of researchers took a closer look at the clinical course of more than 2500 children from China and Germany who were treated for coronavirus infection in the hospital. What do you know for sure and what surprised you?
Liese: In the first examinations from China and in the examinations now available from Germany, it has been shown that children generally only experience a very slight respiratory disease after infection with the new corona virus. What surprised me the most was that up to the present day we haven’t had to treat a single child with a coronavirus infection in the children’s clinic here in Würzburg. In an influenza season, at least five children are admitted to the hospital every week. In the RS virus season, i.e. from January to April, there can also be up to ten children per week. We were prepared for this at Covid-19. Fortunately, it didn’t happen that way. (Editor’s note: RS viruses can cause acute respiratory diseases and are particularly dangerous for infants and young children.)
Was it only in Würzburg?
Liese: Doctors around the world have had the experience that the course of the disease in children who are infected with the coronavirus is much easier than in adults. From the beginning of the pandemic to the present day, a total of 162 children have been treated in clinics in Germany for Covid-19. In comparison: In the case of influenza and RS viruses, there would be well over a thousand in a comparable period.
And the 2500 children who came to hospital in Chinese clinics for Covid-19?
Liese: 60 to 70 percent were younger than five years, 30 to 40 percent were infants. The majority had a fever and an upper respiratory infection, which means: cough, runny nose, sore throat. The biggest problem was often that the children did not drink enough, so there was a risk that they would become dehydrated and develop circulatory problems. Pneumonia was rare. Children with previous diseases of the lungs, heart or neurological diseases had to be treated more often as inpatients than healthy children.
How seriously are these children ill?
Read: Three quarters of the young patients were discharged from the clinic completely healthy after four days. A quarter of the children still had mild symptoms when released. One child in Germany has died as a result of a coronavirus infection.
Are there any long-term consequences for the children despite the harmless course?
Liese: It doesn’t look like that at the moment. In individual cases, this is always possible.
If the disease in children is usually so mild, does that mean that many infections in children are not discovered?
Liese: It is possible, but we do not yet know. Parents do not usually take an eight-year-old who has a cold to the doctor immediately. Many children with a mild infection may not be tested for the corona virus. The question is: how contagious are these little or no sick children when they are infected with the new corona virus?
If you think of other viruses that you already know, what would you say?
Liese: Then I would say: yes, of course. Children are the main distributors of the virus in many respiratory diseases. Children are highly infectious with influenza. They go through most infections. And they spread these infections: in kindergarten, at school, in the family.
“As a pediatrician, I am very happy that schools and day care centers are opening again.”
Professor Johannes G. Liese–Many parents are now wondering: is kindergarten safe?
Liese: As a pediatrician, I am very happy that schools and day care centers are reopening because further closures have other serious disadvantages for children’s development and health. There are relatively few new Covid 19 infections in Germany. The risk for a family to send their child to kindergarten now and then to get sick is very low. However, it cannot be ruled out that there will be an outbreak locally in individual facilities. So we have to be vigilant. Children with runny nose, cough, scratchy throat must stay at home and be examined in good time.
Should you send the child to kindergarten if the child or parent is at risk?
Liese: The risk factor – heart disease, diabetes or immune suppression – must be assessed individually by a doctor. For someone who is well attuned to medication and stable, the risk is comparable to that of healthy people of the same age group. In this case, the disadvantages for the child when they are isolated at home are greater. A cancer patient, on the other hand, who is receiving chemotherapy that severely lowers his immune system should continue to leave his child at home.
Can the grandparents also look after the grandchildren as soon as the children go back to kindergarten or school?
Liese: This also depends on additional risk factors and underlying diseases. I don’t see a big risk for 50-70 year old grandparents who are healthy and fit. If you are older, I would limit contact to walking and outdoor activities and would recommend grandparents to wear safer mouth and nose protection, such as an FFP2 mask.
Scientific support: Corona tests in Würzburg day care centers
In Germany Many projects are currently starting to deal with the question: How infectious are children? The city of Würzburg has asked experts from the university clinic and university for help to provide scientific support for the opening of the daycare centers.
The goal: The corona virus should not spread unnoticed in a kindergarten and reach families from there. For this purpose, all children should be tested once or twice a week in selected kindergartens, even without symptoms.
Involved the institutes for microbiology, virology, epidemiology, general medicine, as well as the university children’s clinic and child and adolescent psychiatry at the university hospital. The tests are expected to start after the summer holidays – because many doctors fear a second wave of infection from then on.
Source: akl
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