Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 21, 2020

Symptomatic Infants Have Higher Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 Viral Loads but Less Severe Disease than Older Children

Category:

Topic:

  • Among 57 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients admitted to a children’s hospital in China, 20 (35%) were infants and 37 (65%) were children and adolescents. Although the mean nasopharyngeal viral load was higher in infants (21.1 vs. 27.3 Ct, p-value < 0.001), a lower proportion of infants had severe disease: 1 (5%) infant compared to 12 (32%) of older children (p=0.02). 

Zachariah et al. (May 20, 2020). Symptomatic Infants Have Higher Nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 Viral Loads but Less Severe Disease than Older Children. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa608