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. 2020 Jun;55(6):1424-1429.
doi: 10.1002/ppul.24762. Epub 2020 Apr 7.

Novel coronavirus infection in children outside of Wuhan, China

Qinxue Shen  1   2   3 , Wei Guo  1   2   3 , Ting Guo  1   2   3 , Jinhua Li  1   2   3 , Wenlong He  1   2   3 , Shanshan Ni  1   2   3 , Xiaoli Ouyang  1   2   3 , Jiyang Liu  4 , Yuanlin Xie  5 , Xin Tan  6 , Zhiguo Zhou  4 , Hong Peng  1   2   3
Affiliations

Novel coronavirus infection in children outside of Wuhan, China

Qinxue Shen et al. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Since December 8, 2019, an epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly, but information about children with COVID-19 is limited.

Methods: This retrospective and the single-center study were done at the Public Health Clinic Center of Changsha, Hunan, China. We identified all hospitalized children diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 8, 2019 and February 19, 2020, in Changsha. Epidemiological and clinical data of these children were collected and analyzed. Outcomes were followed until February 26th, 2020.

Results: By February 19, 2020, nine pediatric patients were identified as having 2019-nCoV infection in Changsha. Six children had a family exposure and could provide the exact dates of close contact with someone who was confirmed to have 2019-nCoV infection, among whom the median incubation period was 7.5 days. The initial symptoms of the nine children were mild, including fever (3/9), diarrhea (2/9), cough (1/9), and sore throat (1/9), two had no symptoms. Two of the enrolled patients showed small ground-glass opacity of chest computed tomography scan. As of February 26, six patients had a negative RT-PCR for 2019-nCoV and were discharged. The median time from exposure to a negative RT-PCR was 14 days.

Conclusions: The clinical symptoms of the new coronavirus infection in children were not typical and showed a less aggressive clinical course than teenage and adult patients. Children who have a familial clustering or have a family member with a definite diagnosis should be reported to ensure a timely diagnosis.

Keywords: children; clinical characteristics; coronavirus disease 2019.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest computed tomographies (CTs) on a 9‐year‐old patient Case: (A) CT image showed ground‐glass opacity in the left pulmonary lobe of a 9‐year‐old female with no sign and symptom on the first day of hospitalization, the followed (B) image showed absorption on day 7
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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