Abstract

Background: The current pandemic due to the novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) (Figure 1) that caused COVID-19 infection is the most prevalent challenge for mankind since the World War II. This is a review article about up-to-date studies of this global significant pandemic.

Methods and Results: Review of current and related researches published online in English language about SARS-CoV-2 particularly in children. For the purpose of the journal citation the references reduced from 119 reviewed articles to 49 references, hence some of the references will be referred to within the text. Until now June 2020, the confirmed cases of infection globally exceeding 6.5 million cases with a mortality rate just above 6%. The confirmed reported cases are not representing the tangible scale of the pandemic due to insufficient testing programs, asymptomatic cases and false negatives following upper respiratory swabs only. The pandemic started with an epicenter in Wuhan city in China and moved like a tsunami to a second epicenter in Europe particularly Italy and Spain before it landed in the United States and the UK and lastly emerged in South America and Africa. Both adults and children are at risk of the disease however the course of the infection is milder in children. Spread of the infection may happen from any infected individual to others. Death were reported more in adults particularly the elderly and patients with preexisted comorbidities. This article is a review of the current studies focusing on the nature of the virus, immunopathology, clinical presentation in children and shading light on management and control.

Conclusion: Children are less likely to show sever SARS-CoV-2 infection with lower mortality rate than adults, most likely due to their immune system. Possible causes are the molecular receptors used by the virus for host cell entry, the crossed immunity against common corona viruses and other causes need more studies. Children show milder, different or asymptomatic course, hence the number may be under-estimated. The overall consequences of the COVID-19 on children is yet to be understood especially in relation to pregnancy, new-born babies, educations, welfare and future. The post COVID-19 complications such as, psychological and mental impacts, respiratory complications and post-viral sequela yet to be identified.

Keywords:COVID-19; SARS-Cov-2; Coronavirus; Children; Novel Coronavirus; 2019-nCoV; HCoV; SARS; MERS

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Citation

Citation: Sam Hassan. “Presentation, Management and Pathogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 in Children”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 3.7 (2020): 13-31.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Sam Hassan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.