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SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia in children: An Iranian referral hospital‐based study
Author(s) -
Pourakbari Babak,
Mahmoudi Shima,
Mahmoudieh Yasmine,
Eshaghi Hamid,
Navaeian Amene,
Rostamyan Maryam,
Mamishi Setareh
Publication year - 2021
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.27065
Subject(s) - virology , covid-19 , medicine , referral , betacoronavirus , pandemic , pediatrics , family medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , disease
Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) RNA is generally detected in nasopharyngeal swabs, viral RNA can be found in other samples including blood. Recently, associations between SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia and disease severity and mortality have been reported in adults, while no reports are available in pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). The aim of this study was to evaluate the mortality, severity, clinical, and laboratory findings of SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA detection in blood in 96 pediatric patients with confirmed COVID‐19. Among all patients, 6 (6%) had SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia. Out of the six patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia, four (67%) had a severe form of the disease, and two out of the 6 patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia passed away (33%). Our results show that the symptoms more commonly found in the cases of COVID‐19 in the study (fever, cough, tachypnea, and vomiting), were found at a higher percentage in the patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia. Creatine phosphokinase and magnesium tests showed significant differences between the positive and negative SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia groups. Among all laboratory tests, magnesium and creatine phosphokinase could better predict SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAemia with area under the curve levels of 0.808 and 0.748, respectively. In conclusion, 67% of individuals with SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia showed a severe COVID‐19 and one‐third of the patients with SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia passed away. Our findings suggest that magnesium and creatine phosphokinase might be considered as markers to estimate the SARS‐CoV‐2 RNAaemia.