Symptoms of Covid-19 persist in children

WHO defines persistent Covid symptoms as symptoms during the acute phase of Covid that persist for up to 3 months after recovery. Most people infected with the virus have mild to moderate symptoms and can recover without being hospitalized.

According to pooled data from 21 studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, a quarter of children experience persistent Covid-19 symptoms. Of the 80,071 children with coronavirus in the studies, 25% developed symptoms that persisted for at least 4 to 12 weeks or new persistent symptoms within 12 weeks. The experts also found that older children (12-17 years old) were more likely to have persistent Covid-19 symptoms than younger children (5-11 years old).

Currently, there are no studies showing which children will experience prolonged Covid-19 condition because this condition can occur in children with mild illness. Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, chief of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said: “This usually occurs about 4 weeks after infection even though F0 babies don’t show any symptoms. really surprising”.

Children with prolonged Covid-19 may be tired or dizzy when standing up. Healthy children can easily overcome these bouts of fatigue, but children with prolonged Covid-19 cannot. Dr Amy Edwards, who runs the Pediatric Covid clinic at UH Rainbow Children’s and Infants Hospital in Cleveland, explains: “The energy of children with prolonged Covid-19 will have to be used carefully when going to school. , play… or even watch TV. Everything a child does consumes energy and once the energy is depleted, the child’s body is in danger.”

Persistent Covid-19 symptoms in children can also include severe headaches and “brain fog” (difficulty thinking or concentrating) that prevents some children from attending school and having difficulty concentrating while studying. Serena Spudich, MD, a professor of neurology at Yale University, says cognitive delay and mood problems after a person is infected with coronavirus appears to be much more common than with other viral infections. .

A study published in the journal BMJ has shown a series of cases of school-age children experiencing severe abdominal pain during the first peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bulgaria. Characteristic symptoms of the disease including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and anorexia were reported to occur 2 weeks before admission but were of mild or almost no concern to parents. Many children with prolonged Covid-19 have changes in taste and smell.

Children with prolonged Covid-19 may also experience heart palpitations, chest pain and dizziness, especially when returning to normal activities, experts say. Children may experience bone fatigue, constant pain, and a feeling of heaviness in their legs that make it difficult to run, jump or play. Many children struggle to keep up with schoolwork or are forced to skip sports.

When parents see that their child has the symptoms described above or shows any signs that they did not have before having Covid-19, it is necessary to take the child to a medical facility. For children with Covid-19 undergoing inpatient treatment, parents should take the child to an outpatient examination and monitoring according to the appointment of a medical facility upon discharge from the hospital.

Y Linh (According to Times of India)