Scientists in the United Kingdom have expressed their concern that Covid in children should not be ignored given the lack of a vaccine for this age group, but cautioned that the evidence describing these enduring symptoms in the young is so far uncertain.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has raised concern as studies indicate that 13% of under 11s and about 15% of 12- to 16-year-olds reported at least one symptom five weeks after a confirmed Covid-19 infection. ONS samples households randomly, therefore positive cases do not depend on having had symptoms and being tested.
Although children are relatively less likely to become infected, transmit the virus and be hospitalised, the key question is whether even mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to long Covid in children, said Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London.
“The answer is that it certainly can, and the long Covid support groups contain a not insignificant number of children and teens,” Altmann added.
The ONS study found that 22.1% (95% CI: 21.2% to 23.2%) of respondents from the general population were still reporting at least one symptom at 5 weeks following COVID-19 infection, while 9.8% (7.4% to 13.1%) had symptoms at 12 weeks.
The most common symptoms at 5 weeks were fatigue (12.7%), cough (12.4%), headache (11.1%), loss of taste and/or smell (10.4%), and myalgia (8.8%). Females had a slightly higher 5-week prevalence than males, at 23.6% and 20.7%, respectively, while prevalence was greatest among those in the 35-49 years age group (26.8%), followed by 50-69 years (26.1%)
and 25-34 years (24.9%
via Guardian / ONS
