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Epidemiological features and viral shedding in children with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
Author(s) -
Hua ChunZhen,
Miao ZiPing,
Zheng JiShan,
Huang Qian,
Sun QingFeng,
Lu HongPing,
Su FeiFei,
Wang WeiHong,
Huang LiePing,
Chen DaQing,
Xu ZhiWei,
Ji LeDan,
Zhang HongPing,
Yang XiaoWei,
Li MingHui,
Mao YueYan,
Ying ManZhen,
Ye Sheng,
Shu Qiang,
Chen EnFu,
Liang JianFeng,
Wang Wei,
Chen ZhiMin,
Li Wei,
Fu JunFen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.26180
Subject(s) - virology , covid-19 , viral shedding , epidemiology , sars virus , betacoronavirus , pandemic , biology , medicine , virus , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , pathology
A pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection broke out all over the world; however, epidemiological data and viral shedding in pediatric patients are limited. We conducted a retrospective, multicenter study, and followed‐up with all children from the families with SARS‐CoV‐2 infected members in Zhejiang Province, China. All infections were confirmed by testing the SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA with real‐time reverse transcription PCR method, and epidemiological data between children and adults in the same families were compared. Effect of antiviral therapy was evaluated observationally and fecal‐viral excretion times among groups with different antiviral regiments were compared with Kaplan‐Meier plot. By 29 February 2020, 1298 cases from 883 families were confirmed with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and 314 of which were families with children. Incidence of infection in child close contacts was significantly lower than that in adult contacts (13.2% vs 21.2%). The mean age of 43 pediatric cases was 8.2 years and mean incubation period was 9.1 days. Forty (93.0%) were family clustering. Thirty‐three children had coronavirus disease 2019 (20 pneumonia) with mild symptoms and 10 were asymptomatic. Fecal SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA detection was positive in 91.4% (32/35) cases and some children had viral excretion time over 70 days. Viral clearance time was not different among the groups treated with different antiviral regiments. No subsequent infection was observed in family contacts of fecal‐viral‐excreting children. Children have lower susceptibility of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, longer incubation, and fecal‐viral excretion time. Positive results of fecal SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA detection were not used as indication for hospitalization or quarantine.