4/5/2023 0 Comments Covid symptoms in kidsWhat about children with complex and chronic conditions? This is very different to the experience in the elderly, particularly those with existing health problems. These are important and serious infections, but these babies almost all recover without needing support from intensive care. During the Delta wave, approximately 10 per cent of babies needed admission to hospital to receive oxygen, in a similar way to other winter viruses – although with Omicron, babies and infants are half as likely to be admitted to hospital. The latest published data suggests infants are at an increased risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19 compared to young children, but with a similar risk to adolescents. It’s important for families to remember that most transmission still occurs in households and the highest infection rates are now in teenagers and young adults – age groups who socialise the most! Are babies more at risk? It’s fast becoming the dominant strain here and in many parts of the world. Omicron has only been on the radar since November/December 2021 and has spread rapidly in Queensland and Australia. Severe infections in children requiring intensive care unit admission or leading to death remain uncommon. The available data suggest it results in a milder illness in children and adults. It is clearly more contagious (or ‘transmissible’) than the previous variants of the virus, including the Delta strain. We’re still learning more about Omicron every day. In comparison, about one half of all adults with critical illness (predominantly elderly people with chronic conditions) have died. While there are reports of higher rates of child deaths in some countries, a population-based analysis of 12 million children in the United Kingdom in 2020 found 1 in 50,000 children experienced a critical illness, and the rate of death related to COVID-19 was 2 per million children. Serious illness remains extremely rare in children. However, the sheer number of infections in the community do mean we are seeing more children in hospital than previously.” The most recent data estimates that 2 per cent of children with the Omicron variants require admission to hospital. ‘Indeed, the data on Omicron suggests the variant causes less severe disease in both children and adults resulting in a lower proportion requiring admission to hospital. “Severe complications in children are uncommon,” Dr Clark adds. “In most cases the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever, cough and tummy upsets but also milder cases of pneumonia sometimes requiring hospitalisation.” “Importantly, the published data also suggests that children tend to have less severe cases of COVID-19 than adults,” says Children’s Health Queensland’s Director of Infectious Diseases Julia Clark. Pre-school and primary school age children appear less likely to acquire the infection and make up less than 5 per cent of reported cases in Australia and elsewhere. Internationally, the data has consistently reported the lowest rates of COVID-19 infection in children. How at risk are children and young people from COVID-19? Here’s a breakdown of the current facts and advice about COVID-19, the vaccination and what it all means for children and young people to get you through the next leg of the COVID journey. That said, the world is still learning how to live with COVID-19, and it’s important that we don’t let our guard down. The good news is that evidence and our experience suggest severe illness from COVID-19 in children is still rare. However, the arrival of the Omicron strains has resulted in more infections in children and young people. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents and carers have felt reassured by the knowledge that children have represented only a small proportion of cases worldwide.
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