COVID Kid Long Haulers

0

HACKENSACK, N.J. (Ivanhoe Newswire)- Experts say it’s hard to pinpoint an exact number, but recent research shows that anywhere from ten to 30 percent of all kids who contract COVID-19 experience symptoms that last six months or longer. Learn what researchers are discovering about COVID kid long haulers and the effort to return them to good health.

COVID in kids. In the beginning, the infection looked a whole lot different in children than in adults.

Dr. Katharine Clouser of Hackensack University Medical Center explains, “We were seeing a lot more of the gastrointestinal side effects. They were having a lot of diarrhea, a lot of vomiting, a lot of abdominal pain.”

(Read Full Interview)

But with the rise of COVID variants, experts say those under 18 now have symptoms similar to adults: fever, cough, headaches, difficulty breathing, and extreme fatigue. And up to one in three kids may be having trouble getting back to normal.

“What we’re mainly seeing is kids who used to be really good in school, who are now struggling in school, kids who have trouble sleeping, who can’t stay awake, or that athlete, who’s really having a hard time kind of returning to their level of activity, post the infection,” Dr. Clouser further explains.

Dr. Clouser is among the pediatric specialists who are part of the Hackensack Meridian Children’s Pediatric Covid Recovery Center. Pediatric pulmonologists, cardiologists, neurologists, rehab specialists, and others work together to treat a wide range of symptoms.

“We’re doing things to help them to regain their stamina. So, if they’ve got headaches, we may need to put them on migraine medication. If they’re having a hard time getting back to their level of activity because they’re having a difficult time breathing, we’ll do lung tests, lung function tests, and they may need to go on an inhaler for a period of time,” Dr. Clouser says of their research.

The Pediatric Covid Recovery Center also makes counselors and Child Life Services available to patients and families. Experts say they need to address the stressors that come along with recovering from a long illness. As of August, about four dozen U.S. hospital systems had opened specialized COVID recovery centers for adult patients. Only about half a dozen pediatric centers exist, including the one at Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health in New Jersey.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/10/08/covid-19-kids-cases-hospitalizations-deaths/8361479002/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-19/long-haul-covid-kids-coronavirus-proving-more-serious-risk-to-children

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-safety-outcomes/13-hospitals-health-systems-that-have-launched-post-covid-19-clinics.html

Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Executive Producer & Field Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.

To receive a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs from Ivanhoe, sign up at: http://www.ivanhoe.com/ftk

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

RESEARCH SUMMARY

TOPIC:            COVID KID LONG HAULERS: SPECIALIZED TREATMENT NEEDED

REPORT:       MB #5004

BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, can get sick with COVID-19, and can spread the virus to others. In the United States through March 2021, the estimated cumulative rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 symptomatic illness in children ages five to 17 years were comparable to infection and symptomatic illness rates in adults ages 18 to 49 and higher than rates in adults ages 50 and older. Estimated cumulative rates of infection and symptomatic illness in children ages zero to four years are roughly half of those in children ages five to 17 years but are comparable to those in adults ages 65 years or older. Several studies conducted early during the COVID-19 pandemic suggested that the incidence rate among children and adolescents was lower than among adults; however, the lower incidence rates may have been due in part to children, when compared to adults, having fewer opportunities for exposure due to school, daycare, and activity closures, and a lower probability of being tested. Studies that have systematically tested children and adolescents, irrespective of symptoms for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection or prior infection have found their rates of infection can be comparable, and in some settings higher, than in adults.

(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html)

DIAGNOSING: Compared to adults, children likely have similar viral loads in their nasopharynx, similar secondary infections rates, and can spread the virus to others. Comparing trends in pediatric infections before and after the return to childcare, in-person school, youth sports and other activities may enhance the understanding about infections in children. Children who have SARS-CoV-2 may experience fever, fatigue, headache, myalgia, cough, nasal congestion or rhinorrhea, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, or poor appetite. A systematic review estimated that 16 percent of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection are asymptomatic, but evidence suggests that as many as half of pediatric infections may be asymptomatic.

(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html)

NEW STUDY: A study examining 110 children aged two weeks to 21 years who tested positive for COVID-19 at Massachusetts General Hospital or urgent care clinics, helped researchers confirm earlier findings that infants, children and adolescents are equally capable of carrying high levels of live, replicating SARS-CoV-2 in their respiratory secretions. The researchers at Harvard-affiliated MGH and colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard then showed that these high levels of virus correspond with live, infectious virus, and that levels are highest early in the illness in both symptomatic and asymptomatic children. They found no correlation between the age of the children and the amount of their viral load.

(Source: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/10/study-confirms-kids-as-spreaders-of-covid-19-and-emerging-variants/)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:

Mary McGeever

Mary.mcgeever@hmhn.org

If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com

Doctor Q and A

Read the entire Doctor Q&A for Katherine Clouser, MD, medical director of Pediatric COVID Recovery Center

Read the entire Q&A