What is it about?
Pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) have been recognized in multiple countries globally. In this review, we provide recent insights into SARS-CoV-2 infection in children from epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory perspectives, including reports on the disease course and therapy. We highlight key features of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, the relationship between MIS-C and Kawasaki disease, and summarize treatment guidelines for COVID-19 in children from institutional protocols from Colombia, case reports, recommendations based on expert consensus, and official statements from organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), Colombian Association of Infectious Diseases, and the Colombian Society of Pediatrics. Finally, we discuss gaps in research with suggestions for future research on the pathogenesis underlying pediatric COVID-19.
Featured Image
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
Why is it important?
While recent reports of pediatric infections show better prognosis than in adults, a growing number of children are being affected as transmission continues and the long-term impact in children is unknown. Furthermore, infections in children pose an important challenge for infection control measures. Therefore, it is justified to review the impact that SARS-CoV-2 has had on the pediatric population. This work aimed to review recent insights into SARS-CoV-2 infection in children from an epidemiological, clinical and laboratory perspective, including reports on the disease course and therapy.
Perspectives
The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pediatric population is very heterogeneous given the diversity of clinical manifestations of affected patients. The clinical range oscillates between asymptomatic patients (potential vectors of the virus) and mild, moderate and severe symptomatic patients, the latter being a minority but with a greatest impact. Future research should be aimed at deciphering the conditions that serve as determinants or triggers of severe events due to COVID-19 in the pediatric population. It will be important to determine pediatric host factors to identify immunological variations that may respond to particular medical therapies. Furthermore, it is also important to understand the aspects of immunogenetics that may emerge as alleles or haplotypes of the HLA system that are conditioning the pro-inflammatory environment during the infection by SARS-CoV-2.
Microbiologist Jairo Castellar-López
Universidad Libre
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Recent Insights into COVID-19 in Children and Clinical Recommendations, Current Pediatric Reviews, May 2022, Bentham Science Publishers,
DOI: 10.2174/1573396317666211206124347.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
