Mostly children and adolescents with coronavirus suffer from headaches
Children who contract the coronavirus rarely suffer the long-term effects of Covid-19 and recover in less than a week. These are the conclusions reached by scientists at King's College London. Of course, there are exceptions, but the vast majority of children tolerate coronavirus very easily.
The most common symptoms in children are headaches and fatigue. Other common symptoms include sore throat and loss of smell. In addition, compared to adults, children in general are much less at risk of contracting coronavirus.
The findings are published in the medical journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. Scientists monitored children in clinics and at home to understand how the coronavirus affects children compared to other respiratory diseases.
The study involved 1,734 children aged five to 17 who tested positive for coronavirus between September 2020 and February 2021.
It found that less than one in 20 children with coronavirus had symptoms for four or more weeks, only one in 50 had symptoms for more than eight weeks.
On average, older children usually get sick for a little longer than elementary school children: children aged 12 to 17 take a week to recover, and in younger children, the illness usually lasted five days.
Doctors did not find a single case of neurological symptoms, such as seizures or loss of consciousness.
Most children do not get sick with coronavirus for more than a week and can easily tolerate it.
The team also examined a similar number of children who had symptoms of the disease but tested negative for coronavirus.
It turned out that only 15 out of 1,734 children suffered from symptoms of the disease for at least 28 days. This is less than one person in a hundred. The rest recovered much earlier.
- Symptoms similar to Kawasaki syndrome in children linked to coronavirus
- In search of “Delta”: 11 million residents of Wuhan must pass the test for coronavirus
- “Vaccination alone cannot defeat the virus”: does vaccination protect against transmission of Covid-19
conclusions
“Yes, children also get covid, and some of them may have the effects of the disease for a long time. But still, this happens very rarely, and the vast majority of children recover completely over time,” says Emma Duncan, professor of clinical endocrinology at King's College London. one of the authors of the study.
Scientists also draw attention to the fact that not only covid, but also other respiratory diseases are reflected in children's health.
“Our data underscores that colds and flu can also have long-term effects on children, and this is important for both doctors and parents to consider. Especially now, given that the prevalence of these diseases is likely to increase as physical distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus will be weakened, “says Dr. Michael Absud, study co-author, consultant and senior lecturer at King's College London.
