Coronavirus Disease 2019 Influenza A in Children: An Observational Control Study in China.
- Author:
Yang ZHAO
1
;
De Lin SUN
2
;
Heather C BOUCHARD
2
;
Xin Xin ZHANG
3
;
Gang WAN
4
;
Yi Wei HAO
4
;
Shu Xin HE
1
;
Yu Yong JIANG
5
;
Lin PANG
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Letter
- MeSH: Betacoronavirus; physiology; Case-Control Studies; Child; Coronavirus Infections; blood; epidemiology; immunology; virology; Female; Humans; Influenza, Human; blood; epidemiology; immunology; Male; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; blood; epidemiology; immunology; virology
- From: Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2020;33(8):614-619
- CountryChina
- Language:English
- Abstract: This study aimed to understand the differences in clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory features between the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) and influenza A in children. Data of 23 hospitalized children with COVID-19 (9 boys, 5.7 ± 3.8 years old) were compared with age- and sex-matched 69 hospitalized and 69 outpatient children with influenza A from a hospital in China. The participants' epidemiological history, family cluster, clinical manifestations, and blood test results were assessed. Compared with either inpatients or outpatients with influenza A, children with COVID-19 showed significantly more frequent family infections and higher ratio of low fever (< 37.3 °C), but shorter cough and fever duration, lower body temperature, and lower rates of cough, fever, high fever (> 39 °C), nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, sore throat, vomiting, myalgia or arthralgia, and febrile seizures. They also showed higher counts of lymphocytes, T lymphocyte CD8, and platelets and levels of cholinesterase, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and lactic acid, but lower serum amyloid, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and shorter prothrombin time. The level of alanine aminotransferase in children with COVID-19 is lower than that in inpatients but higher than that in outpatients with influenza A. Pediatric COVID-19 is associated with more frequent family infection, milder symptoms, and milder immune responses relative to pediatric influenza A.
