Low Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Symptomatic Patients Attending a Pediatric Emergency Department

Frontiers in Pediatrics

article

Christoph Zurl¹  Volker Strenger³  Ernst Eber³  Anna Siegl¹  Sabine Loeffler⁴  Evelyn Stelzl⁵  Harald H. Kessler⁵  Markus Egger³  Nina A. Schweintzger¹  Werner Zenz¹ 

[1] Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Graz;Section of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Graz;Division of Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergology, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Graz;Emergency Department, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Graz;Diagnostic & Research Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University Graz

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID;    19;    epidemiology;    respiratory infections;    emergency department;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fped.2021.637167

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Children and adolescents seem to be at lower risk of developing clinical symptoms of COVID-19. We analyzed the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 3,605 symptomatic children and adolescents at 4,402 outpatient visits presenting to a pediatric emergency department. In a total of 1,105 (32.6%) episodes, the patients fulfilled clinical case definitions for SARS-CoV-2 infection and were tested by nucleic acid testing. A SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed in 10/1,100 episodes (0.3% of analyzed episodes, 0.91% of validly tested patients). Symptoms at presentation did not differ between patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection, apart from the frequency of measured temperature ≥37.5°C at presentation. Three percent of analyzed children reported disturbances of olfactory or gustatory senses, but none of them was infected with SARS-CoV-2. The rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections among symptomatic children and adolescents was low and SARS-CoV-2 infections could not reliably be differentiated from other infections without nucleic acid testing.

【 授权许可】

CC BY