On Thursday, the University of Pretoria’s Department of Paediatrics held a webinar on COVID and its impact on children. A very interesting fact, is that children aren’t vectors for COVID, so while they may get sick, they do not transmit the infections to others. A thread....

Prof Robin Green said that no-one is an expert on COVID and everyone is acting on information as it becomes available. So, what we know now, may be different in a few month’s time.....

A case history of 16 people in a chalet in the French Alps was cited. This group included a child. Everyone in the chalet contracted COVID, including the child. When the child’s contacts were traced, no-one had contracted COVID from the initial child.

Children tested in the Netherlands showed that a significant number of children had COVID antibodies, but tested negative for the COVID PCR Test (the diagnostic test)

One of the big concerns and talking points regarding children and COVID is PIMS and/or Kawasaki disease which arose from an observational study published in The Lancet. It describes an increased incidence of PIMS (paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome) in Bergamo in Italy

10 patients between Feb and April this year, compared to 19 patients in the five years previously. While PIMS is a serious illness, it is not very common and provided that it is recognised early enough, it can be treated. PIMS shares some clinical features with Kawasaki syndrome

Just like adults, co-morbidities are an issue. Asthmatic children, whose asthma is well-controlled are not at increased risk. Another co-morbidity may be obesity. The more at-risk groups are children under the age of 1 year and children older than 15 years

So far, in South Africa, there have been no COVID related deaths in children. The death of a premature infant in the Eastern Cape a few days ago, born to a COVID positive mother, seems to be more related to the infant’s prematurity.

Treatment for COVID in children is based on the symptoms & severity of illness. Prof Green stated that antibiotics should not be used routinely for viral infections and/or fever and that indiscriminate use of antibiotics caused #antibioticresistance & depletes the gut microbiome.

It is estimated that by 2050, #antimicrobialresistance could result in a loss of 10 million lives a year, more than the number of people dying from cancer. #hcsmsa