Infection with the new coronavirus in children

• Published in: Revista medicală Română Vol. 67; no. 2; pp. 126 - 129
• Main Authors: Iancu, Mihaela Adela, Nicolescu, Oana, Gherghina, Ioan, Matei, Dumitru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amaltea Medical Publishing House 30.06.2020
• Subjects: child; clinical features; sars-cov-2
• ISSN: 1220-5478; 2069-606X
• DOI: 10.37897/RMJ.2020.2.4

The first cases of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 were reported for the first time in people in Wuhan, China in December last year. The infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread quickly in China, followed by outspread in other countries. It was declared a pandemic in March 2020. SARS-CoV-2 causes the disease COVID-19, an acute severe respiratory syndrome. Infections were reported in children of all ages, from newborn to adolescence, with a smaller incidence than in adults, and having a better prognostic than in adults. A particular evolutionary feature of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), a rare but severe disease which is associated with COVID-19 and which has been reported to have been diagnosed in children from Europe and North America. Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome has similar characteristics to those of the Kawasaki disease and concomitant infection of SARS-CoV-2. A small percentage of children who have been diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome determined by SARS-CoV-2 require hospitalisation and very few require care in the intensive care unit. The prevention of COVID-19 focuses on hand hygiene, wearing face masks in enclosed spaces and social distancing.