Children With COVID-19 Show Better Outcomes Than Adults

Pediatric patients with COVID-19 show better outcomes, shorter hospital stays and produce less antibodies against the infection, shows a recent study that compared children and adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

Pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had better outcomes and shorter hospital stays, reveals a recent study that compared children and adults diagnosed with COVID-19.

The study also reveals that children hospitalized with COVID-19 displayed altered immune responses and more limited production of antibodies against infection.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

TOP INSIGHT

COVID-19 has caused more than 29 million cases and 929,000 deaths globally, and high hospitalization rates from the disease have overwhelmed healthcare systems in many cities.

While these preliminary findings are descriptive and do not establish a causative relationship, the study hints that these immune differences could help explain why children have consistently developed less severe cases of COVID-19 than adults during the pandemic.

Carl Pierce and colleagues compared data from 65 children and youths (under 24 years of age) and 60 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in metropolitan New York.

Clinicians say that children and young people have milder symptoms and rarely progress to life-threatening respiratory complications when compared to older people, the opposite of what has been observed with other viral infections such as respiratory syncytial virus.

Indian Namaste the Preferred Greeting over Conventional Handshake
COVID-19 pandemic is causing changes in how we greet each other. The traditional Indian way of greeting with folded hands (Namaste) is now being preferred over handshake. Namaste has more to it than just being a greetings, read to find out

The infected children including those who had the emerging complication known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome were less prone to require mechanical ventilation and had lower mortality than the adults.

The adults showed higher antibody production and T cell responses to the viral spike protein but lower amounts of inflammatory molecules like IL-17A and IFNγ that are involved in innate immunity.

"The results provide new insights into potential mechanisms that may contribute to age-related differences in disease resolution ... and may have implications for ongoing efforts with convalescent plasma and the development of therapeutic antibodies," says Pierce.

Source-Medindia