- Apr 15, 2014
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Google translate from a Belgian newspaper article from today about the role of children in the spread of corona:
Children are not the driving force behind the Covid-19 outbreak. Several new studies now give hints as to why: children are less at risk of infection than an adult when they come into contact with a patient. And if they do have the virus, they are probably less likely to transmit it than adults.
How come so few children end up in the covid-19 statistics as "confirmed cases"? Because proportionally fewer children become infected? Or because they have no symptoms more often than adults and are therefore tested less? Are infected children who do not show any signs of disease, who are apparently healthy, 'silent' spreaders of the virus?
The importance of the answers to these questions can hardly be overestimated. Because they determine how 'risky' the contacts at school and in the crèches are to get the epidemic on the rise again - and how much parents should be concerned if their children return to school or daycare.
Experts have long suspected that the children are not the motor of the Covid-19 epidemic ( DS 24 April ). Multiple studies that have appeared in recent days now provide pieces to puzzle to the role of children in this epidemic.
Obervation 1 : Children, contrary to previous hypotheses, have a significantly lower risk than adults of becoming infected upon contact with a covid-19 patient. Obervation 2 : When children carry the Sars-CoV-2 virus, they have as much virus in their throat as an adult with the virus (whether they have symptoms or not). Obervation 3 : in practice, children and young people with the virus rarely infect others, possibly because they cough less (for example, less often 'expel' the virus with full force).
The great fear of epidemiologists, parents and teachers is that children form 'bridges of contamination' between families or between home and school. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) provides additional evidence that children are not often the 'importers' of the virus in their families (in comparison: children are very often with the flu). RIVM conducted contact investigations at the beginning of the epidemic , in which the contacts of confirmed cases were identified and investigated. In minors with the sars-CoV-2 virus whose contacts were then mapped, the researchers found no new infections that would have caused the child or young person.
In general, according to the analysis of 'contamination flocks' by the RIVM, most infections occur among people between 40 and 80 years old.
The elderly are most at risk
A brand new study in the top journal Science could provide an explanation for this, and this through a particularly ingenious statistical analysis. In that investigation, all close contacts of confirmed cases in Wuhan and Shanghai were examined. Those close contacts were followed by the Chinese government for two weeks, including with virus tests.
Researchers divided the contacts of the confirmed cases into three age categories: children (0-14 years), adults (15-64 years) and the elderly (people over 65). The children who had come into contact with a confirmed case were found to be much less likely to become infected themselves than the adults. The risk of the children was only one third of the risk of adult contacts. The over-65s were most likely to become infected upon contact with a covid-19 patient: 50 percent more than the 15- to 64-year-olds.
Virus in the throat
All this naturally raises the question of what goes differently in the body of children than in adults. The last word has probably not yet been said about this. An interesting addition was made on Thursday by the German virologist Christian Drosten, professor at the Berlin university center Charité. His research group finds on the basis of the throat swabs of confirmed cases that children have as many virus particles in the throat as adults. It does not matter whether or not the children have symptoms. Drosten concludes that children could be equally contagious.
That conditional form is important, because in practice it looks different. Pierre Van Damme, professor of epidemiology at UAntwerp, explains how this could be done. “We now know that children are less likely to get an infection when exposed, and we knew that children with sars-CoV-2 are less likely to have symptoms than adults. The symptoms such as coughing probably play a very important role in the spread of the virus. So even though children have as much virus in their throat as adults, the virus must spread in their environment. Add to that that children also have a smaller lung volume. Their drops of virus will get less far than those of adults. "
Schools
Van Damme attaches great importance to the studies carried out in households in the Netherlands and other countries. 'Nowhere do you have closer contact between people than within the family. This shows that children do not infect adults as often. This can reassure teachers who have less close contact with the children than parents with their children if they have to teach again soon. Parents who send their children back to school and who may fear becoming infected through their children can also be reassured. ”
In the Science paper, the researchers calculated that closing schools alone cannot bring the corona epidemic to a halt. The closure of schools may reduce the peak, but social distancing remains the most important measure.
Can't all children suddenly go to school again? Van Damme: 'What we do now is the right strategy, because we must not forget the additional contacts outside the classroom. Think of the parents who meet again at the school gate. Close contact between adults is indeed a risk . "
Children are not the driving force behind the Covid-19 outbreak. Several new studies now give hints as to why: children are less at risk of infection than an adult when they come into contact with a patient. And if they do have the virus, they are probably less likely to transmit it than adults.
How come so few children end up in the covid-19 statistics as "confirmed cases"? Because proportionally fewer children become infected? Or because they have no symptoms more often than adults and are therefore tested less? Are infected children who do not show any signs of disease, who are apparently healthy, 'silent' spreaders of the virus?
The importance of the answers to these questions can hardly be overestimated. Because they determine how 'risky' the contacts at school and in the crèches are to get the epidemic on the rise again - and how much parents should be concerned if their children return to school or daycare.
Experts have long suspected that the children are not the motor of the Covid-19 epidemic ( DS 24 April ). Multiple studies that have appeared in recent days now provide pieces to puzzle to the role of children in this epidemic.
Obervation 1 : Children, contrary to previous hypotheses, have a significantly lower risk than adults of becoming infected upon contact with a covid-19 patient. Obervation 2 : When children carry the Sars-CoV-2 virus, they have as much virus in their throat as an adult with the virus (whether they have symptoms or not). Obervation 3 : in practice, children and young people with the virus rarely infect others, possibly because they cough less (for example, less often 'expel' the virus with full force).
The great fear of epidemiologists, parents and teachers is that children form 'bridges of contamination' between families or between home and school. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) provides additional evidence that children are not often the 'importers' of the virus in their families (in comparison: children are very often with the flu). RIVM conducted contact investigations at the beginning of the epidemic , in which the contacts of confirmed cases were identified and investigated. In minors with the sars-CoV-2 virus whose contacts were then mapped, the researchers found no new infections that would have caused the child or young person.
In general, according to the analysis of 'contamination flocks' by the RIVM, most infections occur among people between 40 and 80 years old.
The elderly are most at risk
A brand new study in the top journal Science could provide an explanation for this, and this through a particularly ingenious statistical analysis. In that investigation, all close contacts of confirmed cases in Wuhan and Shanghai were examined. Those close contacts were followed by the Chinese government for two weeks, including with virus tests.
Researchers divided the contacts of the confirmed cases into three age categories: children (0-14 years), adults (15-64 years) and the elderly (people over 65). The children who had come into contact with a confirmed case were found to be much less likely to become infected themselves than the adults. The risk of the children was only one third of the risk of adult contacts. The over-65s were most likely to become infected upon contact with a covid-19 patient: 50 percent more than the 15- to 64-year-olds.
Virus in the throat
All this naturally raises the question of what goes differently in the body of children than in adults. The last word has probably not yet been said about this. An interesting addition was made on Thursday by the German virologist Christian Drosten, professor at the Berlin university center Charité. His research group finds on the basis of the throat swabs of confirmed cases that children have as many virus particles in the throat as adults. It does not matter whether or not the children have symptoms. Drosten concludes that children could be equally contagious.
That conditional form is important, because in practice it looks different. Pierre Van Damme, professor of epidemiology at UAntwerp, explains how this could be done. “We now know that children are less likely to get an infection when exposed, and we knew that children with sars-CoV-2 are less likely to have symptoms than adults. The symptoms such as coughing probably play a very important role in the spread of the virus. So even though children have as much virus in their throat as adults, the virus must spread in their environment. Add to that that children also have a smaller lung volume. Their drops of virus will get less far than those of adults. "
Schools
Van Damme attaches great importance to the studies carried out in households in the Netherlands and other countries. 'Nowhere do you have closer contact between people than within the family. This shows that children do not infect adults as often. This can reassure teachers who have less close contact with the children than parents with their children if they have to teach again soon. Parents who send their children back to school and who may fear becoming infected through their children can also be reassured. ”
In the Science paper, the researchers calculated that closing schools alone cannot bring the corona epidemic to a halt. The closure of schools may reduce the peak, but social distancing remains the most important measure.
Can't all children suddenly go to school again? Van Damme: 'What we do now is the right strategy, because we must not forget the additional contacts outside the classroom. Think of the parents who meet again at the school gate. Close contact between adults is indeed a risk . "
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